Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: I have read posts that say acacia...

So, a little math. 25 grams of acacia would be 10 teaspoons. That would contain 167.5 mg of calcium (670/4). I suppose it's possible that could be constipating, but it seems like an awfully low dose of calcium to have a dramatic effect.

I wonder if the problem some Cers have with acacia is not that it IS constipating, but that it is NOT stimulating. I haven't done any kind of detailed check of who is reporting what, but the two IBS-C people who recently said they use just acacia - AstroChick (great Board name) and BamaGirl (another great Board name, but then I'm originally from Alabama, so I'm biased) - also seem to report eating a lot of IF.

Acacia is pure SF, so it gives you that gel-like substance in the gut, which is great for D AND for C because it eases those nasty spasms. But SF does NOT tell the gut to "hurry along now" - which is great for D, but not so great for C. As I understand it, that's where IF comes in - it tells the gut to "move along". So maybe IBS-C people who are able to get a lot of IF from food do well with acacia, while IBS-C people who are - have to be - more cautious around IF in food don't do as well with acacia. Maybe for them, a SFS that has more IF in it (like Metamucil) is better because it gives them more of the IF they don't get from food.

Just a thought.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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