In the world of natural health, xylitol is a sweetener that raises both interest and questions. Although known for its dental benefits, it is crucial to understand how this sugar alcohol can affect your health in a holistic way.
Xylitol is a popular sweetener that is gaining attention for its dental benefits, but is it really beneficial to your health? Let's take a look at the pros and cons of xylitol in the diet.
Within the broad scope of sugar substitutes, xylitol is one of the «new sugars» on the market, but beware! When you know the details, it will become quite obvious that it may not be the sugar you need in your body.
Xylitol is now widely used in baked goods, chewing gum and beverages - and sugar may not be the knight in shining armor that advertisers make it out to be.
Xylitol starts innocently enough, as this sugar alcohol is found naturally in some foods such as oats, berries, mushrooms, and even some herbs such as birch. So, the advertising terminology that xylitol is natural is technically true.
Xylitol Reduces Cavities
There are approximately 3100 studies on xylitol in PubMed, The world's medical database, where medical scientists share their work with others. Many of these studies are about xylitol used in toothpaste.
For example, a research study conducted in a Tennessee elementary school with 200 children chosen to see whether the use of a xylitol paste made with a 49% of xylitol was effective by using it for 30 days. Children were also taught how to brush their teeth.
The researchers reported that the reduction of plaque was radical, although they did not report how radical it was.
The idea of using xylitol is that the sugar alcohol affects bacteria in the mouth. Some of these bacteria such as Neisseria, Rothiamucilaginosa, Streptococcus mitis and Prevotellahisticola produce acetaldehyde, which can cause cancer - as well as other bacteria that cause plaque, such as Streptococcus mutans. The xylitol inhibits acetaldehyde caused by the worst producing bacteria, Neisseria, in about 90 %.
This may be a good thing about xylitol, but we need to research the subject in depth if you want to be able to make a good decision about whether or not to use it in your diet.
Xylitol is a Fermentable Sugar in the Gastrointestinal Tract
The xylitol is a sugar alcohol that ferments in the digestive tract. And this, alone, is one of the reasons why sugar can cause stomach upset and other digestive symptoms for those suffering from irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn's disease, as well as celiac disease.
There is a lot of new research supporting the idea that any fermentable sugar arrives at give possible problems in the digestive system. And since it is not really natural to extract a sugar alcohol from a food and increase its consumption in the diet, what happens in the intestinal tract next is quite predictable. You may have nausea, pain in the abdomen, gas, bloating, diarrhea and constipation.
For those who suffer from digestive disorders and do not respond to anything they have tried, reducing the consumption of foods with a higher sugar alcohol such as xylitol is something you should do. The diet is called FODMAP diet; The FODMAP advocates fermentable monosaccharides, oligosaccharides and polyols. It is a diet that restricts foods high in those sugars that cause abdominal symptoms - and often results in a remarkable health transformation in people with digestive disorders. You can read about it here: http://shepherdworks.com.au/disease-information/low-fodmap-diet
Be Smart About What You Put in Your Body
You may not have any digestive disorders now and you may be reasonably healthy. However, this does not mean that the xylitol is for you. You should know that in the process of xylitol, the sugar is carried out through a bacterial process, chemicals are used and high temperatures are also required.
In the history of nutrition, we have seen over and over again that any potential food subjected to high temperatures, during the process, causes the production of advanced glycation products, molecular fragments that are linked to to all degenerative diseases. Any food that has been treated with chemicals has had the life “extracted” from it and leaves a devitalized substance that should not be called food.
Is xylitol the sugar you want in your diet? Only you can decide.
Sources
Hopper, B.L. and Garcia-Godby, F. Plaque reduction in school children using a disposable brush pre-pasted with xylitol toothpaste. J Tenn Dent Assoc 2014 Fall-Winter; 94(2): 25-8; quiz 29-30.
Moritani, K., et al. Acetaldehyde production by major oral microbes. Oral Dis 2015 Mar 21. Epub ahead of print.
Goebel-Sengel, M. and Monnikes, H. Malabsorption of fermentable oligo-, di- or monosaccharides and polyols (FODMAP) as a common cause of unclear abdominal discomfort. Dtsch Med Wochenschr 2014 Jun; 139(24): 1310-4.
