Teenager ‘ killed by eating 14 sticks of chewing gum a day’
A TEENAGE girl may have been killed by chewing too much sugar-free gum, an inquest heard yesterday. Samantha Jenkins – who chewed up to 14 sticks of mint gum a day – died suddenly after complaining of a headache and collapsing into a violent fit.
The 19-year-old fell ill after her body failed to absorb enough vital minerals through her stomach, where large lumps of chewing gum were found, the hearing was told.
Her mother Maria Morgan, 45, spent four years campaigning for yesterday’s inquest after her daughter’s death was initially put down to natural causes.
She told Swansea Coroner’s Court: ‘She had complained of feeling unwell that day and told me she felt a headache coming on and had pins and needles.
‘She went upstairs that night and suddenly shouted down to me, “Is this what it feels like to die? I feel paralysed”.’
Samantha died later in hospital. Mrs Morgan said doctors thought her daughter must have been ‘poisoned’ because her mineral levels were so low.
She said she believed her daughter, whose favourite brand of gum was Trident, may have been made ill by consuming so much aspartame or sorbitol – two sweetener ingredients in sugar-free gum. She said: ‘I looked through my daughter’s bags, drawers, and bedroom and I found hundreds of sugarfree Trident wrappers and receipts with several packets of chewing gum on them.
‘I want answers for my beautiful little girl so that we as a family can finally have closure and that maybe there could be changes in awareness of these additives and warnings on packets.’
Samantha, a shop worker, from Llanelli in South Wales, had complained of being ill numerous times on Facebook from November 2010 up to her death in June 2011. A post-mortem
‘Is this what if feels like to die?’
examination revealed her stomach contained several large chunks of mint green gum.
The inquest heard the cause of death was brain swelling triggered by low salt, magnesium and calcium levels in her body.
Pathologist Dr Paul Griffiths said it was possible the lumps of gum found in her stomach may have made it harder for the teenager to absorb the important minerals, and that the laxative effect of consuming exessive levels of the sweeteners may have had a role in reducing these mineral levels. He said he had examined Trident chewing gum and found it to contain sorbitol and aspartame, which have been ruled safe by the Food Standards Agency.
But he said eating 14 sticks of gum a day would mean Samantha was consuming around 16.8 grams of artificial sweeteners.
‘That’s a fairly substantial amount,’ he said. ‘If you look at what you give patients with chronic constipation, we give them 20 grams a day and then we reduce it. She was taking enough to have a laxative effect.’
But he said any claims that sweeteners were responsible for the Samantha’s death were ‘going into uncharted waters’. He said: ‘There is very little evidence. No one has died as a result of chewing gum. I think there is a potential for this much gum to cause this problem, but it’s not hard fact.’
But the pathologist said he would be writing to drug monitoring officials to flag up a possible harmful reaction from large amounts of sweeteners such as aspartame, which are also in fizzy drinks and diet products.
Swansea assistant senior coroner Colin Phillips recorded a narrative verdict and said the death was due to swelling of the brain caused by convulsions caused by lack of salt, magnesium and calcium. He added: ‘ Excessive consumption of chewing gum may have played a role in inducing this lack of minerals and mineral depletion.’