Dangerously Sweet: Xylitol Polyalcohol Sweetener

Alice Liboiron
March 17, 2016

         


      Xylo-Pentane-1,2,3,4,5-pentol, better known as xylitol, may be familiar to you if you are a diabetic, or if you are trying to watch your girlish figure. For those who still want sweets but not the calories, xylitol only contains 40% of the calories that regular table sugar does⁴. Xylitol is found in many plants such as berries, oats, corn, lettuce and mushrooms. It can also be found naturally in our bodies from the digestion of carbohydrates⁴. Like many sweeteners, xylitol appears like large white crystals, and can be extracted from xylan, a structural compound found in birch trees and corn husks¹.                                                                                     

Xylitol under a microscope is pretty like a Jackson Pollock 

painting. Photo by Carl Hennig, retrieved from Microbe Hunter⁵

         As a five carbon "sugar alcohol", xylitol is used to sweeten diabetic treats such as gum, mints, and candies due to the fact that sugar alcohols do not cause an insulin "spike" in our bodies. When we eat a meal, our body senses the incoming sugars, glucose and fructose mainly, and releases insulin into the blood stream. From here, insulin causes the liver to convert and store blood sugars as glycogen, and allows muscle cells to absorb glucose from the blood stream to create energy. People who are diabetic either do not produce enough insulin to do this, or do not react strongly to insulin anymore⁷. Xylitol does not cause insulin to be released because it does not increase blood sugar levels⁴ .

"Do you have any gum?" Retrieved from VIN News Service (2)

Xylitol is not dangerous for humans in any serious way. Too much in one day may cause diarrhea and bloating, and it would take a mouse chewing through approximately five sticks of Trident sugar free gum to cause death^6,8. But in dogs, goats, rabbits, and baboons, xylitol causes vomiting, excessive salivation, seizures, and death³. This is because of how it is broken down by the bodies of other animals. Instead of causing no insulin spike as in humans, dogs experience an insulin spike six times higher than what you would expect after eating your lunch³! This means that all that insulin goes to work storing and converting sugars in the blood, working overtime to lower blood sugar. Dogs become severely hypoglycemic from this, much the way you might feel after not eating for an extended period of time. If dogs experiencing xylitol poisoning do not receive a concentrated source of sugar, such as dextrose, they can experience permanent liver damage and death³. It can be very expensive to treat pets who have experienced xylitol poisoning, so it is best to choose other sugar alcohols such as mannitol to sweeten your coffee, otherwise Fido might find the whole ordeal sickeningly sweet.

1. Chen, X., Jiang, Z.-H., Chen, S., & Qin, W. (2010). Microbial and Bioconversion Production of D-xylitol and Its Detection and Application. International Journal of Biological Sciences, 6(7), 834–844.     

           2.    DeGioia, P. (2012, January). Awareness of xylitol toxicity in dogs still lacking Reported cases                                        of poisoning on the  rise. Retrieved March 9, 2016, from The VIN News Service :                   http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=21365

          3.    Dunayer, E. K. (2006, December 1). New findings on the effects of xylitol ingestion in dogs.     Retrieved March 9, 2016, from dvm360:http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/new-findings-effects-xylitol-ingestion-dogs?id=&pageID=1&sk=&date=

4. Gunnars, K. (2015, November). Xylitol: Everything Need to Know (Literally). Retrieved March 7, 2016  from Authority Nutrition: https://authoritynutrition.com/xylitol-101/
5.  Hennig, C. (2014, September 8). Microscopy Forum – Xylitol. A sweetener with a large footprint. Retrieved March 9, 2016, from Microbe Hunters Microscopy Magazine: http://www.microbehunter.com/forum/specimens-samples-and-slides/xylitol-a-sweetener-with-a-large      footprint/
6. Kent, L. T. (2015, April 22). Dangers of Xylitol. Retrieved March 8, 2016,                from LIVESTRONG: http://www.livestrong.com/article/85091-                   dangers-xylitol/

7. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.                                      (June). Causes of Diabetes. (U. D. Services, Producer) Retrieved March 17, 2016, from National Institutes of Health (NIH):http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/Diabetes/causes-diabetes/Pages/index.aspx

      8. O'Neil, M. J. (2006). The Merck index: An encyclopedia of chemicals,                                               drugs, and biologicals. Whitehouse Station, N.J: Merck.