Polite Dissent

NOW — at last — a new scientific idea which guarantees you can lose as much weight as you wish!

No hardship! No exhausting exercise! drugs, or laxatives. Here’s the new modern way to reduce…to acquire an improved figure and the slimmer, exciting, more graceful silhouette you’ve dreamed about.

Simply chew Special Formula Chewing Gum and follow the Doctor’s Plan. This tasty wholesome chewing gum possess Sorbitol, is sugar-free, and reduces appetite. Sorbitol is a new discovery and contains no fat and no available carbohydrates. Just chew this delicious gum and reduce with the Doctor’s Plan!

This ad for weight loss gum comes from the romance comic Lovelorn #39, published in July 1953. According to the ad, the gum contains the miracle ingredient Sorbitol.

Sorbitol is still used today, 55 years later. It certainly is no miracle weight loss agent — it has it’s uses, but it also has some significant side-effects.

Sorbitol is a type of chemical known as a sugar alcohol. It is roughly 60% as sweet as sugar and is used as an artificial sweetener in many sugar-free products including chewing gum, diet soda, ice cream, mouthwash, and toothpaste. Sorbitol cannot be broken down by oral bacteria, so does not contribute to tooth decay. It gives off a cooling sensation, and is used in mints, gums, and the like for that purpose as well as its sweet flavor.

Despite what the ad states, Sorbitol is a fairly potent laxative. Though not intentionally ingested, enough Sorbitol can be swallowed from chewing gum to lead to some unpleasant side effects.

In terms of weight loss, Sorbitol is definitely no miracle cure. It has fewer calories than sugar, and some people find that chewing gum can help them lose weight, so I guess it has that going for it. The laxative side effect can also lead to weight loss, but that’s not a healthy way to go about losing weight. I suspect the actual weight loss touted in this ad comes from the “Doctor’s Plan” they keep mentioning — and that it’s nothing more than a low-calorie diet (you’ll notice that nowhere in the ad does is state “no diet” or “no dieting”.)