Xylitol is the natural sweetener that tastes like sugar, has less calories, doesn’t create cavities, and has many other health benefits. Move over, sugar!
The Natural Sweetener With Many Health Benefits
“Sugar is sugar.” Every time I see that deceptive commercial, I wonder how the actor must feel getting paid to tell a total lie: sugar IS NOT sugar, and most people know this by now, I hope.
High-fructose corn syrup is not the same as cane sugar, honey, or molasses.
Making Sense of Sugar and Sweeteners
I’ve recently been looking into all kinds of sweetener options — sugar, artificial sweeteners, and syrups.
I already wrote about agave nectar not being a good sweetener alternative, because agave syrup is as bad as high-fructose corn syrup.
This post includes affiliate links.
In my research, I read lot of posts and watched YouTube videos about sugar substitutes.
I like organic raw honey as natural sweetener because it has many minerals and helps with a sore throat and cough just as well as commercial, food-dyed cough medicine.
Check out this poster:
The winner of all natural sweeteners is: Xylitol!!!
Move over, sugar, there is a much better alternative: xylitol is the best option to sweeten food and drinks.
Don’t know what it is?
It’s not just another word you can use to teach a preschooler the letter x.
Xylitol is the natural sweetener that
- tastes like sugar
- has less calories
- doesn’t create cavities
- and has many other health benefits
The Many Benefits of Xylitol Sweetener
Xylitol is a natural substance found in fibrous vegetables and fruit, corn cobs and various hardwood trees like birch.
It is a natural, intermediate product that regularly occurs in our glucose metabolism.
While sugar wreaks havoc on the body, xylitol heals and repairs.
It also builds immunity, protects against chronic degenerative disease, and has anti-aging benefits.
It has 40% less calories than sugar and can replace sugar in cooking, baking or as a sweetener for beverages.
Xylitol also dramatically reduces the incidents of middle ear infections (if kids chew xylitol-flavored chewing gum).
It is a perfect sweetener for people with diabetes, and increases your bone density and fights osteoporosis.
My favorite aspect of it is that is helps with tooth decay since my son is prone to cavities. It helps to restore a proper alkaline/acid balance in the mouth and reverses destructive effects of sugar on oral health. It even has the ability to enhance the mineralization of the enamel and can stabilize cavities.
With so many health benefits, xylitol is clearly the winner when it comes to sweeteners.
I suspects we will see it appear in many more products very soon, hopefully replacing chemical, artificial sweeteners for good.
I’ve already bought marmalade with xylitol — this one is super yummy, and you don’t have to worry about a sugar spike or cavities! Win-win!
One important note: you can get it in bulk for not much money by now, but beware! That kind is processed from corn husks, which could be genetically modified (GMO) and is most likely not organicand from China.
Make sure the xylitol you buy is real birch sugar — search for “birch xylitol.”
I buy like the Xyla brand made from non-GMO birch made in the US.
I’ve bought many of their products with xylitol: their small packs for coffee, jams, lollipops, and gum.
Caution: xylitol is fatal for dogs, so make sure that everyone in your household knows that and doesn’t feed the dog the cookies you just made with it, or anything else you use it for.
Here is to healthier life, but still as sweet!
ted mechnick says
Been using this for years. Just went on a diet. Low carb birch xylitol instead of any sugar even made chocolate covered almonds with it. Need to turn it into powder to mix but great. Lost 20 lbs in 2 months.
Dagmar Bleasdale says
Wow, Ted, that’s great!
kina says
My parents eat it. I am starting to. I am normal and slim family eats healthy . That makes me mad that they make it out of corn. and yes Gmo. so if u get it in gum it just says xilotal. So it could be from corn. Can i use this in the raw form and just brush my teeth w it? My folks also just found powdersugar xilotal.
Rebecca says
We use Xylitol too, but I had no idea of some of the benefits you mention here. Thank you so much for enlightening us over at Seasonal Celebration!
Sonya Morris says
I was given some samples of a tooth cleaner/wipe for babies and it has Xylitol as an ingredient! I was skeptical at first, but after reading this post I will have to purchase them!
Dagmar says
Sonya, I’ve used those for L and they are great! I cut mine twice to get many more out of them. I wish I had used them on L’s teeth when they first came in.
Katie @Pinke Post says
This is the first I have read of Xylitol. I was raised in sugar beet farm land area. I like real sugar and I also don’t mind using products with corn syrup which you said were “deceptive” on the commercial. I don’t think a refining process is harmful to my health or my family’s and I trust and know where the ingredients come from. To me as a mom of three it matters mosts that I limit sugar intake and that we don’t overdo anything.
Brynna says
My dad is a sugar beet farmer too! :)
Mrs L says
Corn syrup and High Fructose Corn Syrup are not the same things. Corn syrup is more glucose, and fine. HFCS has a LOT more fructose, which is the more harmful form. (See Sugar: the Bitter Truth if you want to learn a lot more about the harm potential. Sugar is, of course, not great for you, but HFCS is worse, because of how the liver works to break down fructose.)
WeeMasonMan's Mom says
Xylitol is deadly to dogs, so if you have pooches, be sure to keep it away from them!
Dagmar says
That’s true, I meant to mention that in the post. There is a warning about that on the Xylitol I use.
Jennifer says
I use Ideal Sweetener. It’s made from Xylitol and I absolutely love it. It tastes like sugar and can be measured cup for cup like sugar. And it comes in white, brown and powdered varieties! I was so excited to have found this. But my friend did tell me that like all sugar substitutes, it should be used sparingly and we must be very careful around the pets. They cannot tolerate Xylitol. Thanks for posting this!
Mrs4444 says
I guess I’d have to taste it to be sold completely, but I enjoyed this post. Thanks.
Brynna says
We have been using xylitol for it’s antibacterial benefits for about 5 years. Definitely beneficial since we have lots of dental issues in our family (despite diligent efforts at prevention), and even though I believe decay goes much further than bacteria (NUTRITION!), I think it’s beneficial. But just like with most products like this, quality is definitely worth paying attention to.
We don’t use it as a sugar substitute though, because even though it’s low on the glycemic index, it’s still a sugar to the body. And I feel that overall, we just simply need to eat less sugar, period. No matter WHAT form it comes in. Plus it’s VERY easy to get too much and end up with a rumbly tummy.
I DEFINITELY don’t consider it an “artificial” sweetener though. There is a MASSIVE difference between these naturally occurring ones (even though in the end, they are refined as well) and ones like Splenda, Sweet N Low, etc. I did a research project on Splenda in a college nutrition class and was forever disgusted.
Lindsay Dianne says
Thanks for this interesting article. I’m undecided on this material, but I’ll definitely be watching it. Most things are derived, in some way or another, from natural things… Even MSG is a naturally occurring substance. That doesn’t always mean that it’s awesome for us.
Still, if I can find an alternative that is okay for my body, I’ll use it,
PJ (Patti) says
Hey Dagmar!
Great Article, but let’s see how long it takes for someone to come up with bad side effiects! LOL! Every time I think I found something healthier to use, someone always bursts my bubble. “This is a wonderful healthy sugar substitute”, BUT (someone finds out in a study that ) sacchrin causes cancer, Nutra Sweet turns into Formaldehide (spelling) too much regular sugar can cause diabetes (which I have) and so on. Where does it end? Just like medicine. Avandia is great for diabetes, BUT it can cause heart attacks (so the ad’s say. Another medicine is good for something else, but side effects are liver trouble, high blood pressure, bleeding, and so on and so on. Who want to risk it? I get so frustrated! It makes a person want to give up even TRYING to be healthy.
Dagmar says
PJ, I was wondering about the same thing. We were using agave nectar thinking we were so smart, only to find out that it’s basically high-fructose corn syrup. I hope that doesn’t happen with xylitol. For now, you just have to make sure to get it from birch and not corn.
Terri says
Thank you for sharing this article. I’ve never tried this but if I get the chance I might. Anything that helps with tooth decay and is good for you is my kind of product.
Elle says
I don’t know about xylitol. I tried it recently and it gave me immediate explosive bad stomach problems –if you know what I mean. So I did a lot of research on it by googling xylitol and diarrhea, and the way it’s created isn’t very natural and it is known to make many people have diarrhea and other stomach issues.
Stevia’s the only sweetener I use now.
Dagmar says
Hi Ellen, I use xylitol sparingly, not more than 2 teaspoons a day. I have read that it can cause diarrhea if you eat a lot of it, but that is rare.
katlupe says
I use that and Stevia. Ever since I read the book Sugar Blues, I was off the sugar or what I call poison. I know sugar and various forms and white flour products were killing me. I will check out the birch xylitol as I didn’t know about that. Thanks for the info!
Joel says
Xylitol is awesome and I also use Erythritol. Both are a little on the expensive side but SO much better for you than sugar or HFCS.
Vivien says
So interesting! Thank you for sharing!!!