A lot of bacteria, including those which cause tooth decay, will die if they absorb xylose, which they will happily do due to xylose’s resemblance of glucose, their favourite food.
Xylose is non toxic to humans and used as a calory-reduced sweetener (we’re only able to get ~half of the calories off it compared to glucose).
So, snacking on half a teaspoon of sweet xylose after brushing your teeth might feel strange at first (like snacking on pure sugar), but you’ll enjoy clean teeth far longer! Until your next encouter with “real” sugar.
Keep in mind:
Although consuming this ingredient can put you at risk for digestive issues, one potential xylitol benefit seems to be its ability to improve oral health.
This appears to be widely held by most health care professionals and dentists. In fact, the dental community is one of its biggest supports of xylitol because of its reported ability to prevent cavities.
For example, according to a study published in the Journal of Dental Education, “The replacement of sucrose with sorbitol and xylitol may significantly decrease the incidence of dental caries.”
Research tells us that xylitol may be able to help prevent cavities because it cannot be metabolized by plaque bacteria, unlike other forms of sugar. This means that it can have beneficial effects on the oral flora (microbes living in your mouth) not shared by other sweeteners.
Because mouth bacteria can’t use xylitol as a source of energy, it may help prevent tooth decay (such as bacteria like Streptococcus mutans) and the buildup of plaque on your teeth.
Interesting, there are conflicting reports, and we cannot jump to the conclusion that xylitol is completely effective at keeping cavities at bay. In the words of a frequently cited review in the journal Caries Research, “There is no evidence for a caries-therapeutic effect of xylitol,”which makes us wonder what side of the coin to believe.
Overall, sugar-free xylitol chewing gum and the amount used to sweeten toothpaste or mouthwash seems to be relatively harmless, but it’s still not recommended to consume this ingredient in large amounts from foods.
My dentist told me this years ago. Unfortunately I am one of those kids who took way more antibiotics than were strictly necessary due to the way they were prescribed at the time and my microbiome was basically carpet bombed. So I don’t have a strong digestive system when it comes to this kind of thing. Xylitol makes me feel sick and gives me diarrhea in conjunction with most foods. As soon as there’s food in my body it wants to come out the other end.
That’s a very sad thing to read; I am sorry for you and your carpet bombed gut flora.
Just keep in mind that xylitol is toxic to dogs so be careful with storage!
What in the bullshit is this
I feel like the Delta airline pooper took this advice
