Gum Helps after Surgery?

A US team found chewing gum seemed to speed up the return of normal bowel function, and therefore help shorten hospital stays.

They believe gum may stimulate the same nerves as eating, promoting the release of hormones that activate the gastrointestinal tract

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4725054.stm

Any thoughts? I know I would have enjoyed chewing gum after surgery...not being able to eat is a major psychological barrier I found!

Makes some sense to me. They always want to get you up and walking again to resume normal bowel function, so I could see that chewing gum helps too.

Now that is very interesting, it does make some sense. I wish it had of been thought about way back when. Notice they mentioned sugarless gum, sort of makes me wonder if sugar somehow does play a small part, since doctors here thought at one time that it may. Good read JY

The truth for me though is that I do not think I could have had much shorter of a hospital stay. I was in the hospital for 6 days and I do not think that if they wanted to let me go home much sooner I would have. The day before I went home I still had a bit of pain and trouble moving around, so I know it would have been much more difficult to leave that day.

I guess this is still helpful though to ensure the bowel resumes normal activity really fast, and for those who would take a bit longer to recover after surgery this is probably something they might try.

Absolutely Mike, I agree. Like I said, I wish it was even thought about for me in 88. One week after surgery, I was near ready to go home...when one of my Kidney's failed. Thus prolonging my stay for a few more weeks because I had to go on Dialysis. Who knows, maybe that wouldn't have happened if this gum theory was put to use.