A General Introduction to Xylitol

Mar 30
11:47

2011

Judy He

Judy He

  • Share this article on Facebook
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Share this article on Linkedin

Everyone knows chewing gums. In 1990s, they were first introduced into China. At that time, they were in a high price and few people would like to have a try. At present, chewing gums are the most usual candies for young people. There are many types of chewing gums on the market, too. Nowadays, many people always link them with xylitol.

mediaimage

Everyone knows chewing gums. In 1990s,A General Introduction to Xylitol Articles they were first introduced into China. At that time, they were in a high price and few people would like to have a try. At present, chewing gums are the most usual candies for young people. There are many types of chewing gums on the market, too. Nowadays, many people always link them with xylitol. Sometimes xylitol enjoys higher reputation than chewing gums, though a great number of people do not know what it is. Gradually, consumers form the habit of buying xylitol chewing gums whenever they enter the supermarkets. With this particular sugar, chewing gums become important because they can clean the oral cavity, prevent the decayed teeth and help with losing weight. 

Why does it become fashionable? Why is it so magical?  Is it really sugar? 

A couple of years ago, its price was five times higher than that of ordinary sugar. Curious consumers would buy a bottle of it to have a try. They found that it was as sweet as usual sugar. And companies started to advocate its function in teeth protection. Gradually, the youth were fond of this product. 

Xylitol originally produced in Finland. It is extracted from plants such as silver birches, oaks, corns and the bagasse. It is a kind of natural sweetener. We can easily find it in all kinds of fruits, vegetables, grains and mushrooms in nature. For human bodies, it is not exotic. It is a midbody of the sugar metabolism. A healthy adult who does not ingest it also have some in blood. 

It is a successor of saccharin. People love sweet food and hate it as well. Since 1970s, people started to suspect the safety of saccharin. In 1977, an animal experiment in Canada proved that excessive saccharin would lead to cancer. From then on, the use of saccharin was influenced. European countries and America began to reduce its use. At all times, scientists are trying to find a replacement. In 1931, two German scientists synthesized the first xylitol in the world.

The ingestion must have a standard for it would cause some problems if there is too much. There lacks a definite bound or standard right now. Obviously, the quantity varies for different people. As some scientific studies reveal, the ingestion should not be more than 90 grams a day and 50 grams once. The amount absorbed by chewing a gum is much less than this standard. But it is advice to keep an eye on the amount when one eats too many other xylitol products. Interestingly, this disadvantage that it is a cause of laxativeness is a strong point in other fields. For example, toothpaste with it can maintain the moisture.