Is xylitol safe? How should it be used?

Question
My wife and I are healthy sixty year olds.  Wife has diabeties in her family.

Our approach to good health is focus on a healthy diet and exercise.  More recently I found a product called "xylitol".  I know what it is but I do not know how safe it is or how much to use daily. I thought it may be an excellent sugar substitute.  Also thought it would be an excellent sugar substitute for making an occasional desert(e.g. oatmeal cookies or banana nut whole wheat bread).

Dr. Weil does not feel it should be used!

My understanding is that hospitals us it for diabetic patients, etc.

Also, if you could refer me to a medical school web site where research has been done on this product (double blind studies) I would  appreciate that.  

Bottom line: What's the "big picture" on XYLITOL?

Thank you in advance for your response.

Bob


Answer
Hi Bob,


As you might already know, xylitol is a sugar alcohol.
Because sugar alcohols are absorbed and metabolized by the body more slowly than "regular" sugar, they were once believed to be good sugar substitutes for people with diabetes. However, sugar alcohols sometimes cause abdominal discomfort and, because they provide calories, they are not as popular a choice as artifical sweeteners.
An intake of no more than 10-20 grams of sugar alcohols per day is recommended. Sugar alcohols are not good for use in baking. If you want to bake with a sugar substitute, Splenda is more suited to this. Incidentally, hospitals (at least none that I am aware of) do not use xylitol in their diabetic foods, although other artificial sweeteners (like aspartame) are used.

The real benefit of sugar alcohols is related to the inability of mouth bacteria to use them as a source of energy. Therefore, they do not contribute to dental caries (cavities). Some products that may contain sugar alcohols include hard candy, chocolate, table syrups, chewing gum, jams and jellies and some cough lozenges and syrups.

My personal recommendation is to limit use of all artificial sweeteners as much as possible. Try using more natural sources of sweetness, like fruits and fruit juices, or a small amount of maple syrup. For baking, you could try a more naturally derived sugar product like evaporated cane juice (available in natural/health food stores).

The "bottom line" on xylitol is that is a product that has been around for several decades and is of limited usefulness as a sugar substitute, although it has proven benefits for preventing dental cavities. I believe most of the research on xylitol today would be focussing on this use. If you want to check out recent research, go to the PubMed site, which will allow you to check medical journals for the latest research findings.

Hope this helps!

Karen  

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