Study: Chewing gum may help speed recovery after colon surgery
2008-08-19 17:00:25 (GMT) (Caymanmama.com - Health News News)Omaha, Nebraska (CaymanMama.com) — According to British researchers in a report issued by the Associated Press, chewing gum post colon surgery can actually assist and speed up the process of recovery by returning normal bowel function.
The analysis compiled of five studies suggested that some colon surgery patient may experience trouble with bowel movements after colon surgery but the simple action of chewing gum may deceive the body into proper digestion. Much the same way that gum creates saliva in the mouth, chewing gum also stimulates the hormones in the gut and pancreatic secretions, notes the study’s authors, researchers at Imperial College London.
The study which was conducted on 158 patients followed as they recovered from colon surgery. Some of the patients chewed sugarless gum three times each day for five to 45 minutes while other patients did not chew gum at all. The patients that chewed gum noticed a speedier return of bowel function which was “measured in the time it took after surgery for them to pass gas for the first time (a half-day earlier than non-chewers) and to have a first bowel movement (a day earlier).”
Also studied was how long patients stayed in the hospital for care. The four studies examined when the gum chewers were discharged and the results showed that, on average, the gum chewers were released one day earlier. However, the difference were not statistically significant.
With the study showing such positive effects of the simple act of chewing gum, could it be that less than a dollar spent on a pack of gum save money, time and discomfort spend in a hospital bed? “With more than 320,000 colorectal surgeries performed in the United States annually at a cost of $2,100 per day in the hospital, that could be the case.”
CaymanMama.com - Press Release Distribution Service
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