Does drinking carbonated water relieve constipation or cause the runs?
I had the unfortunate idea of buying a can of Monster Energy halfway through my 4 mile run tonight and within 300 feet of my home I had a problem involving my bowels.
Why would you attribute the intestinal effects to the carbonation rather than any of the other ingredients: sucrose, glucose, citric acid, natural flavors, taurine, sodium citrate, color, panax ginseng root extract, l-carnitine, caffeine, sorbic acid, benzoic acid, niacinamide, sodium chloride, glucuronolactone, inositol, guarana seed extract, pyridoxine, hydrochloride, sucralose, riboflavin, maltodextrin, cyanocobalamin.
A Monster energy drink is not carbonated water. Carbonated water is H2O plus CO2 and that’s it. As stated above, Monster has all kinds of stuff in it, such as caffeine and sucralose which are known to have a laxative effect on some people.
I drink unsweetened seltzer water daily, and have noticed no bearing on my stool one way or the other.
Running itself can cause a “problem involving your bowels”. Google “runner’s diarrhea”, it is fairly common.
Maybe you’re mis-channeling Chuckles the Clown? His lifelong motto: “A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down the pants.” Wiki describes his life.
I understand but I’ve graced these sidewalks for over 100 miles and this is the first time I’ve had a bowel problem en route. This time, I actually took particular care before running to flush my bowels beforehand with copious amounts of water.
As soon as I downed the Monster, I felt that same familiar sensation that let me know I had to let something out.
I’ve felt this after drinking any energy drink even when not running. It’s universal. I drink an energy drink, and I gotta go (both ways).
It is almost certainly the caffeine. Sucralose would take longer to have any such effect, I think.