Sweetener Reduces Rate of Acute Ear Infection - xylitol

Healthfacts, Oct 1, 1998 by Marya Napoli

A daily dose of xylitol, a commonly used sweetener, will greatly reduce a childs chances of developing an acute ear infection (acute otitis media). Matti Uhari, M.D., and colleagues at the University of Oulu, Finland, conducted a study of 857 healthy children who were monitored for signs of respiratory infection. For three months, some took daily doses of xylitol in the form of chewing gum, lozenge, or syrup; others formed the control group by taking gum or syrup with much smaller amounts of xylitol or none at all. At the end of the study, 41% of the children in the control group had developed an acute ear infection, compared with 29% in the xylitol syrup group. There was a larger difference between the children who chewed xylitol gum and the children in the control group--a 40% reduction in the rate of acute ear infection. Xylitol taken in lozenge form was ineffective. Dr. Uhari and colleagues noted that the children in the xylitol syrup/gum group required fewer antibiotic prescriptions. The findings were published in this months issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Xylitol is used in a wide variety of foods. It is a natural substance found in fruits like plums and raspberries. Earlier research had shown that the sweetener can reduce the growth of Streptococcus mutans, the predominant bacterium in the development of dental cavities. In a 1996 study, Dr. Uhari and colleagues demonstrated that xylitol chewing gum can have the same effect against the bacterial infection associated with some cases of acute ear infection. But this study involved older children, and most cases of acute ear infection occur in children under the age of two who ca ot safely chew gum. To overcome this problem for the new study, the researchers chose to administer xylitol in syrup or lozenge form to some study participants. The daily dose varied from 8.4 to 10 grams. The investigators found that children were able to tolerate daily doses of xylitol up to 45 grams, but those who received it in syrup form had more abdominal discomfort than those who received chewing gum. It may be that syrup and lozenges are swallowed too fast, causing high concentrations of xylitol in the gut; the same also may explain the ineffectiveness of the lozenges.