Nº 5 SEPTEMBER, 2002                                                                                                                                PAGE 4

Belgium Health Minstry plans to ban Chewing Gum with Fluoride

According to Reuters, is believed to be the first such ban in the European Union, as Belgian officials said, and may spark renewed debate about the safety of fluoride, which some countries add to public drinking water supplies as a means of improving dental health.
It will probably come into force by late August, said Belgian health ministry spokesman Tom Ruts.
"Those products are used excessively and often abused," he told Reuters, confirming comments made by Health Minister Magda Aelvoet in the latest issue of the weekly magazine, Humo.
Aelvoet told the magazine she hoped her European Union partners would follow her example.
"In these cases, a harmonization within the European Union is of course desirable but I can't always wait until the European Union is ready," she was quoted as saying.
"We will however communicate our official decision to the other European member states in the hope that they will follow us swiftly."
Fluoride supplements--such as fluoride tablets or fluoride chewing gum--are promoted by dentists to fight dental caries.
They have been sold in Belgium without a prescription.
The ministry made its decision after the results of a study commissioned by an advisory board to the ministry, the spokesman said. It found that excessive use of fluoride products could cause fluoride poisoning, damage the nervous system and foster osteoporosis.
But it will stop short of banning toothpaste with fluoride, which protects teeth from decay.

Chewing Gum Speeds Recovery After Colon Surgery
 

 (Reuters Health) - Chewing gum may help patients recover normal intestinal function more quickly after major abdominal surgery, according to the results of a small study.
 
Patients who have major abdominal surgery usually suffer temporary bowel problems, stomach discomfort, nausea and vomiting afterward--a condition known as ileus. The sooner a patient recovers normal bowel function after surgery, the earlier he or she can leave the hospital.
In the report, published in the July issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, lead author Dr. Takayuki Asao of Gunma University School of Medicine in Maebashi, Japan, and colleagues point out that chewing, or "sham feeding," has been reported to stimulate intestinal activity in humans.
To investigate whether chewing gum might have this effect on patients after abdominal surgery, Asao's team studied a group of 19 patients who underwent operations to remove a portion of their colon to treat colon cancer. Ten of the patients chewed gum three times daily from the first morning after their surgery until they were able to eat, while the other patients did not chew gum.
According to the findings, the gum-chewing patients recovered normal bowel function more quickly than those who did not chew gum. They passed gas for the first time about 2 days after their surgery, compared with about 3 days after the operation for the patients who did not chew gum. And the gum-chewing patients had their first bowel movement about 2.7 days earlier than the patients who did not chew gum.
The researchers hypothesize that chewing gum might have this effect by stimulating reflexes involved in digestion, and also triggering the release of saliva and other digestive juices.
"Gum-chewing should be added as an adjunct treatment in postoperative care because it might contribute to shorter hospital stays," Asao and colleagues conclude.
SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Surgeons 2002;195:30-32.
 
 
 

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