The US has such a love affair with laxatives that there is now a national shortage. This is not normal

Stomach problems are so ubiquitous that they are trending on TikTok. They provide an insight into a lot of our current problems: from anxiety and stress to a poor diet

American exceptionalism strikes again, this time in the pharmaceutical aisle. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the US is having a love affair with laxatives; Americans of all ages are ingesting so much of the stuff that there are now shortages nationwide.

It's crazy to think that our collective bowel dysfunction problems have gotten so bad that we're running out of stool softeners," Dr George Pavlou, head of the Gastroenterology Associates of New Jersey, told the WSJ.