Too Much Chewing Gum May have Killed Samatha Jenkins!...OMG!

An inquest heard excessive consumption of gum may have contributed to 19-year-old Sam Jenkins' death

Too much chewing gum may have played a role in the death of a “vibrant, happy and fun loving” 19-year-old shop worker.

An inquest heard Samantha “Sam” Jenkins, 19, of Felinfoel, Llanelli, collapsed and died suddenly after complaining of a headache at home in June 2011.

The inquest heard Samantha’s cause of death was cerebal hypoxia (brain swelling) caused by convulsions due to low salt, magnesium and calcium levels in her body.

But experienced Morriston Hospital pathologist Dr Paul Griffiths who carried out a post mortem examination also suggested her death could have been contributed to by the laxative effects of excessive consumption of sugar free chewing gum – her favourite brand being Trident.

Dr Griffiths told the inquest he would be filing a “yellow form report” to the UK’s Drug Monitoring Unit to flag up a possible harmful reaction from large amounts of everyday sweeteners such as aspartame which are in chewing gum and fizzy drinks and diet products.

He said he examined Trident chewing gum and found it to contain sweeteners like sorbitol and aspartame – ruled safe by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) here and also by authorities in the USA.

Dr Griffiths said if Samantha had been consuming up to 14 sticks a day of the gum it would have amounted to “a substantial amount” of sweeteners, up to 16 gms and may have played a role in reducing her levels of salt, magnesium and calcium levels though he said there was no evidence to show the laxative effect of chewing gum had ever played a part in anyone’s death.

He said there had been two reports in the British Medical Journal of patients losing weight due to sweeteners but that was as far as the evidence went.

Dr Griffiths told the inquest when he carried out the post mortem examination he found five “large lumps” of bright green coloured mint smelling chewing gum in Samantha’s stomach, something he had never encountered before.

Samantha’s mother Maria Morgan, 45, has spent four years campaigning for Tuesday’s inquest which she hoped would finally explain the mystery of her daughter’s death which was initially put down to natural causes.

Describing how Samantha collapsed, Mrs Morgan said: “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’.”

Mrs Morgan told the inquest: “On Friday June 3, 2011, myself and my family’s lives were turned upside down and destroyed forever when my beautiful daughter Sam became unwell late one evening and suddenly collapsed at our home.

“She was rushed to hospital and put in an induced coma to control her fitting and convulsions while getting her salts back up to a normal level – unfortunately the damage had already been done and the continuous fitting had caused her brain to swell causing her to have a brain stem death.

“She never recovered consciousness.”

Walesonline reportage