Chewing gum may improve colonoscopy bowel prep: 3 insights

Having patients chew gum is an effective way to improve abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting and the intake adherence of patients in colonoscopy preparation, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

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Here are three insights:

1. Researchers randomly allocated patients into two groups — a gum-chewing group and a control group.

2. The gum-chewing group was asked to chew one stick of sugarless gum during the pause interval of drinking the polyethylene glycol solution.

3. The gum-chewing group reported significantly lower abdominal discomfort, nausea and vomiting and took a shorter time to ingest the polyethylene glycol solution than the control group.

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