To Your Good Health: Different drinking water is not cause of diarrhea while traveling

While reading one of your recent columns, I learned that all water, except for distilled, contains electrolytes. I wondered if there are differences in the amount of each electrolyte in drinking water in different places in Canada, and if so, whether that might explain why I experience cramping and diarrhea while visiting another place? Through experience, I have been able to avoid the problem by drinking only bottled mineral or distilled water when I am away from my home. In cases where I have been on lengthier holidays, after I lived through the initial distress, eventually, my gastric system calmed down and seemed to accommodate the new source of water.

I don’t think the answer to your diarrhea while traveling is in the water. The quality of drinking water in nearly all of Canada and the United States is outstanding, and bacterial contamination is exceedingly rare, as you say.

Similarly, electrolytes are kept at very low levels in most parts of North America, although some water softeners do put a fair bit of sodium into the water in exchange for other ions, such as magnesium and calcium. Still, none of these trace minerals are likely to cause diarrhea.

Some people develop diarrhea with stress. Other people are more likely to drink alcohol while traveling, and excess alcohol can cause diarrhea. I can’t explain why drinking bottled or distilled water seems to prevent the problem.

I have been prediabetic for almost 20 years. Through diet and a prescription of metformin, I’ve been testing in the 115-120 mg/dL range for several years. Recently, I started eating fresh pineapple. I noticed that if I ate a few small pieces in the evening, my morning glucose would be in the 98-105 mg/dL range. This morning, it was 95 — a double-digit range I haven’t seen in years. How can there be warnings that pineapple raises blood sugar levels, but in my case, it’s lowering my fasting glucose?

Fresh pineapple has a lot of fiber, which slows absorption of sugar and minimizes the increase of blood sugar that consumption of any sugar can cause.

Canned or dried pineapple usually has lots of added sugar, along with the naturally occurring sugar, so avoid those. Increased fiber can help improve sugar levels.

I wonder if you are eating pineapple instead of something else that might be raising your sugar more. For many people with diabetes, a small snack before bed can keep the blood sugar from getting too low.

If your blood sugar is too low at night, the body responds by releasing hormones that raise your blood sugar, called the Somogyi effect. It may be that a little snack is keeping that from happening.

The key may be that you can have just a few small pieces. I wouldn’t recommend more.