# Benefiber



## AA01 (Sep 13, 2009)

Back when Benefiber changed their formula, I went out and bought as much as I could of the old guar gum formula because taking that, in combination with calcium, was working for me. So its been 2.5 years and I've used up my supply. Now what? I've tired the new stuff and it doesn't work. It also doesn't help that I'm no longer at a straight 9-5, 5 days a week job. I'm sure some of my problems are my lack of a consistent routine, and I'm working on at least getting my eating and taking of whatever is going to work, on a better schedule. But still, with no Benefiber, I'm not sure what to try. Nothing seems to be made from the same ingredients that was. Suggestions welcome.


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/store/en/brow...;ci_sku=SR-5520 seems to sell it online, may also have it in stores.If you google guar gum and the word price several sites come up.


----------



## AA01 (Sep 13, 2009)

It's definitely different though. Benefiber didn't have any of these warnings, which is one of the reasons I didn't mind taking it. I didn't feel like I had to chug it.


> Drink immediately, before the liquid begins to gel.WarningCaution: Take this product with a full, 8 ounce glass of liquid. If you do not drink enough liquid the product may swell in the throat, causing blocakage or choking....


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

They got away without the fiber will choke you and is the deadliest thing you could ever swallow warnings?How'd the legal team let that happen???It really doesn't seem to be a huge risk, but I would suspect a fair number of any fiber product will put that warning on them just because there is the tiniest risk and putting that on the label covers their butt.Different companies may feel the need to put more or less warnings on the exact same thing. Doesn't mean one product with the exact same ingredient is any more or less risky.I'm sure if you look through the google search you'll finally find one that doesn't have the warning with that ingredient. Although I think benefiber may ahve taken that ingredient out rather than put a chock warning on it. It was pulled from weight loss products because of the swelling up with water thing.I think it is much more of a problem when it is in a pill then when you already added the water to it before swallowing it.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1329494If you've taken guar gum for years with out problems you probably don't have one of the anatomical issues that makes it more risky than usual.


----------



## AA01 (Sep 13, 2009)

They didn't have that warning because it dissolved completely in liquids, was totally clear in water, and didn't get all thick. Even after hours of sitting the glass, unlike something like Metamucil or these types. I could put it in juice or water I was bringing to work in the morning and drink it slowly during the first part of the morning, Or even dissolve it an applesauce or other liquidy food. That's why I'm so worried about taking something new. Maybe I just need to figure something out with the new formula. thanks for the suggestions though.


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Guar gum should behave the same no matter what the labels says.I don't know how it could be completely different just because a different company makes it. I'd check the ingredients listed, not which warnings the legal team decided it needed.They could put the warning on the powder that dissolves even if the ONLY thing that got in trouble with the FDA was the pills. Because if someone doesn't dissolve it in water and just swallows the powder and has a problem they can say we told you so and get out of the lawsuit.Most warnings on a lot of things over the counter are much more about lawsuits than what is legally required. It is like the don't use a ladder on ice or mud warnings. Should be self evident, but you have to protect yourself from all the ways those without common sense will hurt themselves.You can buy guar gum as a food additive (lots of gluten free cooks use it to thicken things when you can't use flour) http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=sear...amp;x=0&y=0 it is on amazon. don't know if that "as a food" have the same warnings it looks like all the companies that sell it as dietary supplement now seem to put on it since they can't put it in weight loss stuff anymore. It still sounds like the problem is when you do not dissolve it in water first.


----------



## AA01 (Sep 13, 2009)

I don't know then, somehow it was different. Benefiber's whole promotion was/is that it's non-thicken, grit-free, tasteless. How they did that, I don't know. The container actually says partially hydrolyzed guar gum, so maybe that changes it from these others being sold. Did anyone else use the old formula and find something new? I had used Citrucel for a while, then it stopped working so I went to Benefiber which did, and had the added benefit of being tasteless and all that. Back to the orange stuff for me maybe?


----------



## AA01 (Sep 13, 2009)

Nevermind







http://www.harvesthealth.com/sunfiber.html...CFQRM5QodFzhutQ


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I think the "thickening" may be a matter of concentration. I assume in ice cream and baked goods they probably make a thick paste of it rather than dilute it out.Not sure why it is non-thickening in some applications when clearly used as a thickener in others.The partially hydrolyzed thing could be the answer. That could change some of the properties.


----------



## ibsstinks123 (Jul 16, 2009)

Wait, Benefiber has changed? What's better, overall, Benefiber or Metamucil?


----------



## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Benefiber's formula was changed back in mid 2006.So if you are using it in the last couple of years and it works for you, you don't need to go find something else.There is no solid information as to which fiber will work best for people in general (other than soluble fiber in supplements is better for most IBSers than the insoluble fiber in bran based foods).And even if we knew that one worked for 46% of people and the other 52% that doesn't tell us which would work best for you. It isn't one works better for all people than the other, but some people do better with one vs the other.Psyllium based fibers like Metamucil often generate too much gas for some people so they tend to do better on something else that isn't fermented quite as much.


----------

