Trader Joe's New Gummy Worms Are Sending People to the Bathroom
Trader Joe's has a new candy and it's become famous very fast for all the wrong reasons.
The store's new Sugar-Free Sweet and Sour Gummy Worms look like a normal impulse buy near the register. They're not. A single serving — about eight pieces — contains 14 grams of fiber. That's roughly half the daily amount recommended by the USDA. An entire bag contains 70 grams of fiber.
Nobody buying gummy worms at a grocery store is thinking about fiber content. That's the problem.
What People Are Saying
The reviews have been consistently alarming and, depending on your sense of humor, deeply entertaining.
"I ate the whole bag high not realizing how much fiber was in these," one Reddit user wrote. "I have been pooping for three days now."
"I've been pooping all day and my stomach keeps rumbling," wrote another.
A TikTok user named Sondra Tamagotchi shared her own experience on May 20 — she ate a whole bag while watching TV and was late for work the next morning.
The pattern is consistent across every platform where the candy has been discussed: someone buys the gummy worms because they look good, eats far more than the recommended serving because they're tasty and sugar-free, and discovers the hard way what 70 grams of dietary fiber does to a digestive system that wasn't prepared for it.
Why This Happens
The candy has zero grams of sugar and gets its sweetness from a blend of allulose, organic erythritol, and monk fruit extract — all sugar alternatives that have become increasingly common in low-sugar and keto-friendly products. None of that is inherently dangerous. The issue is the fiber, and specifically the speed at which a lot of it hits your system at once.
For context, the recommended daily intake of fiber is around 25 to 38 grams depending on age and sex. One bag of these gummy worms contains nearly double the high end of that range. Consuming that much fiber in a short window when your body isn't used to it causes exactly what everyone on Reddit is describing — bloating, cramping, and extended bathroom visits.
The candy isn't marketed as a health food or a high-fiber product. It's sold as fruity gummy worms — which is exactly why so many people ate far more than they should have before reading the label.
Trader Joe's Has Started Warning People
To the store's credit, they appear to have caught on quickly. Customers are reporting that cashiers are proactively flagging the fiber content before buyers leave the register. At least one store has posted a physical warning sign next to the display.
"The cashier at the register told me they are loaded with fiber," one Reddit user wrote. "I'm glad she told me. It was a little odd, but good info."
A TikTok video posted May 19 showed a sign at a Trader Joe's location warning customers that each bag contains 70 grams of fiber. The product itself isn't necessarily bad or harmful — the lack of clear information on its packaging is the real issue. Serving size seems to mean everything with this one.
So just don't eat the whole bag in one sitting.
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