Mannite or mannitol is a sugar low in glucose and fructose, gently laxative contained in manna, a natural substance produced by ash trees. Let’s find out more.
Where is mannite found
Manna is extracted by engraving the branches of Fraxinus Ornus, called manna ash or manna tree, widespread in Southern Europe and Asia Minor.
Manna is the sap extracted from the properly incised bark. From the small transverse incisions created with precise gestures, a juice slowly flows initially of cerulean color and bitter taste (lagrima), which in contact with the air quickly lightens and takes on a sweet taste. Condensing, it forms white and fragrant cannoli and stalactites.
The number of growers is getting smaller and smaller; now almost only the elderly know how to cultivate and make incisions on the bark of the ash trunk, with a particular knife called mannaruolo, they tie at the level of the cut a cotton thread that comes from the branch to the ground and allows the collection of manna.
Properties and use of manna
Mannite has digestive, mildly laxative, refreshing and regularizing properties of intestinal motility. It can also be taken by diabetics because despite being very sweet it does not alter the glycemic level of the blood. For this reason it is also used as a sweetener in slimming treatments. Excellent as a food supplement for the richness of mineral salts.
Its primary use is to combat constipation in early childhood, pregnancy and lactation, as it is one of the few laxatives that does not irritate the intestinal mucosa to cause peristalsis, often associated with painful contractions.
Mannite falls into the category of osmotic laxatives: it slows down the fecal mass in the intestine and attracts water into the intestine, facilitating the emptying of the colon. This substance is usually poorly absorbed in the intestine and, having arrived unaltered in the colon, acts simply by recalling water, making the stool soft and gently facilitating evacuation.
It has a good taste, delicately sugary, which makes it pleasing to children, who can take it as an alternative to laxative drugs, dissolved in any type of drink, including fruit juices.
Contraindications of manna
Mannite has no contraindication except for a small precaution of use: given its mechanism of action to recall water, it is important to accompany it with an abundant amount of liquids (water, juices, drinks, milk, etc.).
