- D-XYLITOL
- NATURAL ALCOHOL SUGAR
- Proven Antibacterial, Anti-Fungal
& Immune Enhancement Properties
-
Chemical Profile:
Xylitol is a sugar alcohol, not actually a glucose sugar. The
xylitol molecule contains five carbon atoms and five hydroxyl
groups which means that it is a pentitol. In comparison, most
natural sweeteners contain six carbon atoms. This is an important
distinction when discussing how xylitol actually improves dental
properties. The five-carbon structure is a key reason why many
cariogenic bacteria cannot metabolise xylitol.
- Xylitol is a natural sugar alcohol of the
pentitol type, i.e. the xylitol molecule contains five carbon
atoms and five hydroxyl groups (Fig. 1). Therefore, xylitol can
be called a pentitol. Xylitol belongs to the polyalcohols (polyols)
which are not, strictly speaking, "sugars" which traditionally
include certain nutritive carbohydrate sweeteners (sucrose, corn
sugar, corn syrup, invert sugar, D-fructose, D-glucose, etc.;
in some reports the term "sugars" is collectively used
to refer to mono- and disaccharides). However, the legitimacy
for including polyols in the sugar field results from biochemical
relationships; polyols are formed from, and can be converted
to, sugars (i.e. aldoses and ketoses). Some chemical encyclopedias
define sugars as crystalline, sweet carbohydrates. The sugar
alcohols thus fall in this category.
- Unique Characteristic: It does not require
insulin to get into the cells to make glucose...excellent characteristic
for diabetics an Syndrom-X ers...
-
-
-
- History : http://www.xylitol.org/drmakinen.asp
- Xylitol has been known to organic chemistry
at least from the 1890's. German and French researchers were
obviously the first ones who made xylitol chemically more than
100 years ago. This reaction was accomplished by means of sodium
amalgam reduction of D-xylose (wood sugar). Owing to the obvious
impurity of the then raw material, the first xylitol preparation
was a syrupy mixture also containg small amounts of sugar alcohols
other than xylitol. The definitive characterization and purification
of xylitol to polarographic purity was accomplished already in
the 1930's. The first successful crystallization of xylitol,
after reduction of purified D-xylose, took place during the second
world war. This product was not, however, a stable form of xylitol.
A stable, crystalline form was obtained slightly thereafter.
-
- Although xylitol has a relatively long organic
chemical history, the first half of this century was rather eventless
from xylitol's point of view; xylitol was regarded as one of
the numerous sweet carbohydrates organic chemists isolated at
those times. Scientists obviously did not realize the biologic
properties of xylitol until researchers started to exploit its
insulin-independent nature after the World War II. Frontrunners
in these developments were Japan, Germany and the [former] Soviet
Union. In Japan, xylitol was used, for instance, in the resuscitation
of patients from diabetic coma.
-
- Xylitol thus remained mostly as a research
chemical until the war-associated sugar shortage in some countries,
such as Finland, forced engineers and chemists to search for
alternative sweeteners. Such substances were supposed to be present,
for example, in hardwood. Researchers and engineers at the former
Finnish Sugar Co. Ltd. succeeded to develop an industrial procedure
for small-scale xylitol production, but the matter was temporarily
put aside in the advent of peace; the sugar shortage subsided.
The idea was not totally forgotten, however, and the process
was being gradually improved. In 1975 the Finnish company began
the first truly large-scale production of xylitol in Kotka, a
small town located in South Finland. Simultaneously, a Swiss
company (F. Hoffman La-Roche) had shown interest in xylitol.
The two companies founded a joint venture (Xyrofin) in 1976.
Later, Xyrofin became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Finnish
Sugar Co. (currently Cultor). At the same time, other companies
located in the [former] Soviet Union, China, Japan, Germany,
Italy, etc. had produced xylitol mostly for domestic markets.
Before 1970, xylitol was mainly used in these countries as a
sweetener in the diabetic diet or in parenteral nutrition (infusion
therapy). Use of xylitol for dental purposes commenced in the
1970's: the first xylitol chewing gum was launced in Finland
in 1975 and in the USA in the same year but a few months later.
- Excepts from Jonathan Wright, M.D./ http://www.wrightnewsletter.com/nah/search/art/2001/nh_0112_a.htm
- Beat bacteria and infection the natural
way: Replace your antibiotics with a few simple sugars!
- Medicine is filled with irony. The medical
world created antibiotics to defeat diseases caused by bacteria.
And what happened? The bacteria adapted, made our drugs less
effective, and, in the process, learned how to make us sicker.
Professional dentists (and many, many moms) said for years that
sugar rots teeth. And what happened? Researchers discovered that
there are exceptions to this rule.
- Sugars-particular simple, natural sugars-are
demonstrating abilities to protect us from tooth decay, ear infections,
bladder infections, asthma, sinusitis, and a host of other diseases
caused by bacteria. These sugars can replace antibiotics for
some treatments. They may even help us break the vicious cycle
that has seen the medical establishment create ever stronger
drugs and ever stronger bacteria.
-
- Diminishing returns from drug therapies
- Since the 1940s, mainstream doctors have
been prescribing antibiotics for most infections. But even the
most conventional physicians have come to realize that the "golden
days" of easy bacteria-killing with antibiotics are over.
-
- Bacteria are fighting for their very survival.
They are literally learning to save themselves from dying at
the hands of antibiotics and steadily producing new strains of
antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In essence, bacteria are getting
smarter-and stronger. Consequently, they're having a much easier
time making us sick and even killing us.
-
- For example, 25 years ago the dose of amoxicillin
used to treat an ear infection was 20 milligrams per kilogram
of body weight per day. Now, statistics show that Americans suffer
from nearly four times as many ear infections and that the average
dose of amoxicillin required to eliminate a single infection
is four times higher.
-
- But finding new antibiotics is getting harder
and harder, and when they are found, they're likely to be more
toxic to us. The antibiotic approach to killing infections is
obviously one of diminishing returns.
-
- Prevention: a better way to deal with
infection
- Obviously, preventing infections is a much
better strategy, and there are many ways to do this. (For a review
of several approaches to preventing infection, see the April
2001 issue of Nutrition & Healing.) A reduction in infections
would, of course, result in less antibiotic use and leave us
contending with fewer drug-resistant strains. We know that many
strains of bacteria lose their resistance if they are not exposed
to antibiotics for some time. Some European countries, such as
Norway, have significantly reduced their problem with antibiotic-resistant
bacteria by restricting antibiotic use.
- Unfortunately, the majority of us, including
doctors, don't focus sufficiently on prevention, so the infection
rate is likely to continue at or near its present level. Consequently,
we'd best look for additional tools in the battle against bacterial
infection.
-
- Know your enemy
- Many famous warriors have commented that
one of the most important parts of warfare is intelligence-knowing
your enemy. In our single-minded effort to find yet another patentable
molecule to kill bacteria, we've fallen short in our efforts
to understand the abilities of these microbes.
- Elisabet Sahtouris, a biologist, points out
that we have learned a great deal recently about the early bacteria
that were the first life forms on this planet. First of all,
they are persistent: 90 percent of the bacteria that scientists
think existed about 600 million years ago (when the first nucleated
cell appeared) are still around. On the other hand, 90 percent
of the "higher" life forms that have existed since
that time are now extinct! We need to remember these dismal odds
when we engage in antibiotic warfare with these bacteria.
-
- For the 2 billion years that bacteria were
"the only show in town," they learned to free oxygen
from minerals and use it for energy. They learned to move around,
ferment organic material, and impart their knowledge and survival
skills to other bacteria by sharing their DNA. Almost as soon
as one bacterium learns how to deal with a threat (such as one
of our antibiotics), they all know. Bacteria are a very tough
enemy.
-
- Fight bacteria with sugar alcohols
- Fortunately, there are natural ways to combat
bacteria. Biochemicals (such as sugars) and bacteria interact
closely. Bacteria use sugars as a communications medium. Meanwhile,
sugars can trigger changes in bacteria. And those interactions
have spawned a scientific discipline. The study of sugars and
their use in bacterial (and other) living communication systems
is called glycobiology.
-
- Dr. Nathan Sharon has been involved with
glycobiology for almost 30 years, studying mannose, galactose,
fucose, xylose, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylneuraminic acid,
N-acetylgalactosamine, and other sugars. Sugars comprise the
"letters of the cellular alphabet," according to Dr.
Sharon. They exist on cell surfaces and help communicate the
needs of each cell to its general environment and to other nearby
cells.
-
- Molecules of bacteria, viruses, and toxins
have receptor sites that are drawn to sugars on particular cells
and can hang onto them. This allows bacteria to stick to the
surface of cells. However, if bacteria (and viruses) cannot stick
to our cells, our bodies' normal cleansing washes them out.
- Now researchers have learned how to turn
that relationship into a treatment for infections.
-
- Cure infections naturally
- Bladder and urinary tract infections. Glycobiology
experts treat such infections by infusing soluble sugars into
the urinary tract. Essentially, these free-floating sugars overwhelm
the bacteria, attaching themselves to all the receptor sites
on the bacteria molecules. Without any free receptors, the bacteria
can't attach themselves to the body's cells and are flushed away
in our urine. Some of the bacteria that has already attached
to tissue is also washed away. The remaining bacteria are usually
sufficiently handled by our immune systems.
-
- We've been using this treatment at the Tahoma
Clinic since the 1980s, giving patients D-mannose for E. coli
bladder infections. Over 90 percent of bladder infections are
caused by E. coli bacteria, which stick to mannose molecules
present on the surfaces of the cells that line our bladders.
If a person has an E. coli infection and takes D-mannose, the
"loose" molecules of D-mannose surround and coat each
E. coli bacterium, so they can't stick to the bladder. The next
time the patient urinates, the D-mannose-coated E. coli are rinsed
awayheaded for their next happy home in a septic tank
or sewage treatment plant. (For more information on treating
bladder and urinary tract infections with D-mannose, see the
June 1999 and October 2001 issues of Nutrition & Healing,
as well as the new booklet D-Mannose and Bladder Infection, by
Lane Lenard, Ph.D., and me. This booklet is available from the
Tahoma Clinic Dispensary, 1-888-893-6878, www.tahomaclinic.com,
with which I am affiliated.)
-
- There is also some evidence that we can successfully
deal with bacteria over longer time periods, without antibiotics,
using strategies derived from glycobiology. For example, a recent
study with cranberry juice extract (which contains D-mannose
as well as other natural bacteria-fighting substances) shows
long-term benefits. A group of women with chronic urinary infections
were given the extract every day for six months. The protection
offered by the extract, however, lasted an entire year.
-
- Ear and sinus infections. Another substance that has similar abilities is xylitol
("zye-lit-all"). Xylitol is a natural substance, like
all of the sugars studied by glycobiology. It looks and tastes
like the sugar we are most familiar with, sucrose (or table sugar).
We make xylitol in our bodies every day, but it is also found
in plums and can be made from wood and wheat grass.
-
- One study found that a solution
containing 5 percent xylitol blocks the ability of more than
half of all harmful bacteria to "stick" to the tissues
inside the back of the nose. As with D-mannose,
the bacteria are prevented from infecting us without being actually
killed.Dr. Lon Jones, a physician in Texas, pioneered the use
of intranasal xylitol in his medical practice. I've spoken to
Dr. Jones, and he tells me that his experience has been a 93
percent reduction in ear and sinus infections when the inside
of the nose is sprayed regularly with the xylitol solution. Not
only does the xylitol appear to "unstick" the bacteria
that adhere to the cells lining the nose and sinuses but also
stimulates the body's normal defensive drainage in the back of
the nose (where the bacteria causing these conditions usually
live).
-
- Dr. Jones points out that his patients' biggest
problem with the success of the xylitol spray is that they experience
such dramatic relief that they forget to continue using it! Unfortunately,
this results in a recurrence of the original problems. Although
it's too early to say for certain and more research needs to
be done, Dr. Jones believes that regular, long-term, xylitol
use will change the nature and behavior of the bacteria inside
the nose and sinuses, resulting in significantly fewer infections
in the long run. Current preliminary research on xylitol's ability
to change oral bacteria gives us reason to beleive that Dr. Jones
is correct.
-
- Allergic reactions and asthma. In addition
to stimu-lating nasal drainage, xylitol spray also removes other
pollutants that trigger allergic reactions and consequent asthma
attacks. (Asthma can be triggered by infection in the back of
the nose and sinuses, other upper respiratory infection, chronic
sinus problems, and allergies.)
-
- Dr. Jones' patients control their asthma
simply by rinsing away pollutants from the back of the nose on
a regular basis. Dr. Jones says that for many of his patients
no other asthma medications are needed. This unique nasal spray
is available as a product called Xlear (pronounced Klear). Xlear
may be available at your own natural food store or compounding
pharmacy. It is also available from the Tahoma Clinic Dispensary.
To read more from Dr. Jones, visit his web page at www.nasal-xylitol.com.
He also writes a column for various newspapers called "Commonsense
Medicine." You can read the archives of these columns by
visiting www.commonsensemedicine.org.
-
- Sink your teeth into this irony: A sugar
alcohol prevents cavities!
- I've grown rather annoyed with dentistry.
Along with everyone else, I've brushed, flossed, and used "water-pressure"
devices for my teeth and gums. I haven't knowingly consumed any
refined sugar or refined carbohydrates for nearly 30 years. Yet
every so often the dentist has informed me it's time to have
another filling or two. Furthermore, to this day, no dentist
has informed me-or anyone else-of the existence of a simple,
safe, good-tasting way to significantly reduce the incidence
of dental cavities. Not only does this method exist, but it first
appeared in dental and other journals in the 1970sand
there's now no question at all that it really works.
-
- No, it's not that hazardous (but politically
correct) toxic waste byproduct, fluoride. So what it is it? Believe
it or not, it's a derivative of a natural, simple sugar.
- Cavities are caused by the bacteria Streptococcus
mutans (S. mutans). Short and long term use of xylitol results
in fewer cavities.
- Xylitol has been widely used in Finland since
the sugar shortages of World War II. In the early '70s, Finnish
researchers discovered that xylitol prevents tooth decay, so
they started making chewing gum containing it. They found that
the S. mutans causing tooth decay fed on the xylitol but could
not break it down or successfully metabolize it. Eventually,
so much xylitol accumulates in these bacteria they get "indigestion"
and can't process other food sugars into the acids that destroy
tooth enamel. (See the box, above right).
-
- According to Dr. Luc Trahan, part of the
faculty of dental medicine at Laval University in Quebec, as
xylitol is used over time in the mouth, strains of "xylitol-resistant"
S. mutans start to emerge. Their numbers increase from a very
few to 40 percent or more of the total S. mutans population.
But curiously, these "new" resistant strains aren't
as bothersome, and cause much less trouble with cavities.1
-
- Dental researchers wanted to find the best
time to start children chewing xylitol gum. In a school setting
in Belize, they gave six groups of children six different types
of gum to chew four times a day for two years with
enough on Friday to last through the weekend. At the end of the
two years, the children chewing the xylitol gum had the best
results in terms of incidents of tooth decay.
-
- Five years later, the researchers returned
to do a follow-up study. The children who had chewed the xylitol
gum had 90 percent fewer cavities than the other children-without
any exposure to xylitol for the five years since the original
study ended.
-
- Xylitol's cavity-preventing effects are nothing
short of amazing: A group of researchers led by Dr. Eva Soderling
reported that when a "study group" of breast-feeding
mothers chewed xylitol gum starting three months after giving
birth, their children developed less growth of the S. mutans
over time. The children themselves were never directly exposed
to the xylitol.
-
- Chewing gum containing xylitol is available
through many natural food stores and compounding pharmacies,
as well as through the Tahoma Clinic Dispensary or through Xlear
co. (1-877-599-5327). For those whose dental work doesn't permit
chewing gum, a variety of all-natural xylitol lozenges are also
available.
- (NOTE: ALSO, WE PROVIDE A
FREE RECIPE TO MAKE YOUR OWN NASAL WASH AND EAR DROPS, ETC.)
- -----------------------------------
- Boost your immune system with polysaccharide
power
- Simple sugars transmit information, particularly
to immune system cells that defend us against infection. When
these simple sugars combine in chains along with uronic acid,
they're called "polysaccharides." Polysaccharides cause
the immune cells to be much more active and vigilant against
bacteria and other germs. They help in both the prevention and
the treatment of infection. Echinacea, aloe vera, and many types
of mushrooms are all rich sources of polysaccharides.
- -------------------------------------
- Xylitol reduces tooth decay by 80 percent
- Dr. John Peldyak, a dental researcher from
the University of Michigan who has been involved in most of the
dental research with xylitol in this country, has summed up the
results of the past 25 years of clinical studies involving xylitol
and tooth decay. Chewing xylitol gum once a day provides little
protection. Twice a day reduces tooth decay by 40 percent. Three
times a day, by 60 percent, and five times a day-80 percent.
- GENERAL PUB MED CITATIONS ON XYLITOL &
EAR INFECTION/UPPER RESPIRATORY
- A physician who has patented Xylitol's use
for nasal spray
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Display&dopt=pubmed_pubmed&from_uid=11163479
- 1. Xylitol in preventing acute otitis
media.
- Uhari M, Tapiainen T, Kontiokari T.
- Vaccine. 2000 Dec 8;19 Suppl 1:S144-7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Abstract&db=PubMed&list_uids=11163479
- 2.A novel use of xylitol sugar in preventing
acute otitis media.
- Uhari M, Kontiokari T, Niemela M.
- Pediatrics. 1998 Oct;102(4 Pt 1):879-84.
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9755259
-
AVAILABLE IN POUND OR KILO SIZES
- Our Xylitol Origins:
- Xylitol is made from processing hemicellulose
from birch trees and then cultured to extract the d-xylitol.
- There is no corn, rice or other GMO sources
or preservatives used.
- Making Home-made Xylitol
Products:
- Oral use for antimicrobial: 2-3 heaping teaspoons
in divided doses throughout the day
-
- Ear/Nasal wash: .9% saline, 5% xylitol liquid(1
part Xylitol, 5 parts distilled water), MSS02 alkaline water.
Mix and store in a container. 2 yr. shelf life.
- Gargle: same as above without the saline.
-
- Topical antimicrobial: 5% xylitol solution
mixed into MSS02 1% solution and add 3-5 drops of LCO-7. Apply
directly to affected area or soak bandage and apply.
-
- Excellent to mix with amino acids for facials
since xylitol is shown to protect proteins from degrading...Its
molecular formula is C5H12O5. Its molecular weight is 152.15g.
Xylitol's melting point is 95C and it has a pH of 6.5.
- Other Research on Xylitol:
- http://www.xylitol.org/drmakinen.asp
- http://www.drdavidwilliams.com/nc/dispatch_sample1102.as
** Mandatory
FDA Disclaimer: The statements & products shown on this website
have not been evaluated by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Statements are not intended to constitute professional advice
for treatment of any disease but are for educational purposes.
These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent
any disease. **
- ©1994-2009 Arrowhead
HealthWorks ™ P.O.Box 3668, Crestline, CA 92325
- (909)337-6804
/ (909) 338-3533 / FAX (909) 338-3743
- E-mail: dbormann@arrowheadhealthworks.com
*ARROWHEADHEALTHWORKS.COM