Xylitol chewing gum : How to identify the best products.

Xylitol chewing gum

Using xylitol chewing gum is an excellent way to create an exposure of xylitol. Certainly a large percentage of the studies that have evaluated the effectiveness of xylitol in preventing tooth decay have used chewing gum as their delivery vehicle.

The added benefit of using xylitol gum.

As detailed elsewhere on our website, the simple act of gum chewing produces its own anti-cavity effect. One totally unrelated to the gum's xylitol content.

The way this benefit is generated is as follows. Our bodies associate the act of chewing with food consumption (having a meal). And as part of the mastication and digestive processes involved with eating, our bodies step up the flow of saliva.

It just so happens that saliva has a buffering and diluting effect on the acidic bacterial byproducts that cause cavities. So the greater the volume of saliva that is present in the mouth, such as that increase generated by the act of chewing gum (or chewing anything really), the greater degree to which this anti-cavity effect can take place.

Our review of available products.

As with the other types of xylitol products that we discuss on this website, we performed a web search so to identify some of the different brands of xylitol chewing gum that are available. We thought this search was going to be a cinch. Since gum is the classic vehicle for xylitol delivery, we thought this would be the type of xylitol product where quantification of its content would be widely publicized.

It seems we were wrong. Just as with other types of xylitol products we reviewed, there seemed to be two tiers of manufacturers. Those having a goal to produce a high quality item and those who skimp on xylitol content yet are still eager to make the claim that their product does indeed contain it.

And of course, just as with other types of xylitol products we've reviewed, we are miffed by those manufacturers who do produce high-content products but seem to feel that precise quantification does not need to be readily available to the public. We wonder, how can a manufacturer that has gone to the trouble of creating a quality product not realize that a person needs to be able to judge their per-day xylitol consumption in order to create an optimal anti-cavity effect? Oh well.

Some of the better chewing gum products we identified.

Here's a list detailing some of the chewing gum products that we found whose xylitol content was fairly readily documented and found to be substantial. This list isn't intended to be all-inclusive. It's just a listing of some of the products we saw that seemed to be reasonable.

Chewing Gum Brand	Xylitol Content (grams per stick)
Epic Xylitol Gum	1.06
Xponent	1
ElimiTaste Zapp	1
Spry Xylitol Gum	.72

We would have a few things to say about what we noticed when reviewing the different xylitol chewing gums that we found available.

Most of the better chewing gum products seem to deliver about one gram of xylitol per stick.
Be careful when comparing the labeling found on different gums. Their xylitol content may be stated in terms of "serving size." In the case of chewing gum products, you may find that a single serving size is either one or possibly two sticks of gum.

How to make a comparison of gum products by looking at their ingredient lists.

Here's an ingredient list of a chewing gum product. From this list you could anticipate that this product probably contains a significant dosing of xylitol (probably along the line of one gram or so). This assumption comes from the fact that xylitol is listed as this gum's primary ingredient.

Here is the ingredient list of a product that we would consider being somewhat suspect. In the case that there is no clear documentation stating otherwise, the fact that this product contains a second sweetener in its formulation suggests that the xylitol dosing that this gum provides is probably lower than the one we just discussed. As you probably already know from reading our pages, other polyols (manitol, sorbitol) are cheaper sweeteners. Some manufacturers will skimp on xylitol content in favor of these as a cost-cutting measure.

Ingredients in lower quality xylitol chewing gum product.

Here's a product that has a list of ingredients that we would consider extremely suspect. Without documentation specifically to the contrary, it seems unlikely that the xylitol content found in this product could be considered to be an effective dosing. Notice that sorbitol (another polyol sweetener) is the first listed ingredient. Xylitol is a distant third.

Ingredients in suspect xylitol chewing gum product.

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How to select a quality xylitol chewing gum product.