Sugar Substitutes & Sweeteners - Xylitol

Xylitol, also called wood sugar or birch sugar, is a five-carbon sugar alcohol that is used as a sugar substitute. It can be extracted from birch, raspberries, plums, and corn and is primarily produced in China.

Xylitol, gram for gram, is roughly as sweet as sucrose, but contains 40% less food energy. Its formula is C5H12O5, with relative mass 152.15 amu. The molecule's systematic name is (2,3,4,5)tetrahydroxy-pentanol.

Dietary use worldwide
It is very popular in Finland, which is considered its "home country". Many Finnish confectioneries employ xylitol, or have a xylitol version available. Virtually all chewing gum sold in Finland is sweetened with xylitol. The Spanish company Chupa Chups makes a xylitol-based breath mint, Smint, that it markets worldwide. In Japan and South Korea, xylitol is found in wide assortment of chewing gums. In 2004, popular North American Trident gum was reformulated to include xylitol.

Medical Applications

Dental care
Xylitol is a "Toothfriendly" sugar substitute. In addition to discouraging tooth decay by replacing dietary sugars, xylitol may actively aid in repairing minor cavities caused by dental caries. Recent research confirms a plaque-reducing effect and suggests that the compound, having some chemical properties similar to sucrose, attracts and then "starves" harmful micro-organisms, allowing the mouth to remineralize damaged teeth with less interruption. (However, this same effect also interferes with the yeast micro-organism and others, so xylitol is inappropriate in making bread, for instance.) A report from February 2004 claims that the United States Army, acting on this data, will eventually pack xylitol-sweetened gum in MREs (meals ready to eat).

Diabetes
Possessing approximately 40% less food energy, xylitol is a low-calorie alternative to table sugar, and is absorbed more slowly than sugar; thus it doesn't contribute to a rapid rise in blood sugar level and the resultant hyperglycemia caused by insufficient insulin response.

Osteoporosis
Xylitol also appears to have potential as a treatment for osteoporosis. A group of Finnish researchers have found that dietary xylitol prevents weakening of bones in laboratory rats, and actually improves bone density.

Ear and upper respiratory infections
Studies have shown that xylitol chewing gum can help prevent ear infections (acute otitis media); the act of chewing and swallowing assists with the disposal of earwax and clearing the middle ear, whilst the presence of xylitol prevents the growth of bacteria in the eustachian tubes which connect the nose and ear. This action that xylitol has on bacteria in the back of the nose is best explained on the site dealing with the nasal application of xylitol. When bacteria enter the body they hold on to our tissues by hanging on to a variety of sugar complexes. The open nature of xylitol and its ability to form many different sugar-like structures appears to interfere with the ability of many bacteria to adhere.

Candida yeast
A recent report suggests that consumption of xylitol may help control oral infections of Candida yeast; in contrast, galactose, glucose and sucrose may increase proliferation.

Health concerns
Xylitol, like most sugar alcohols, can have a mild laxative effect at high doses. It has no known toxicity, though; people have consumed as much as 400 grams daily for long periods with no apparent ill effects. For canines, however, xylitol can cause serious – possibly life-threatening – problems. Dogs ingesting large amounts of products sweetened with xylitol may have a sudden drop in blood sugar, resulting in loss of coordination, depression and seizures within 30 minutes of consumption. There have been many cases in which the chemical is fatal to the dog. Even a little of this chemical, in gum such as Trident, can be fatal to dogs. Two or three pieces of Trident gum is fatal to a dog.

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