FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
XYLITOL
Ruth Winter.1978. A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.
Made from birchwood, it is used in chewing gum as an artificial sweetener. It has been reported to sharply reduce cavities in teeth but costs more than sugar; it also has calories. Because xylitol has a diuretic effect in large amounts, its use in soft drinks is not likely. In addition to its use in chewing gum, manufacturers are proposing to use it in chewable vitamins and in some jellies. FDA preliminary reports cite it as a cancer-causing agent.
Garrett, Theodore Francis (edited by). 1898. the Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery. L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand, W.C. London. Vol. I
is a nutritive sweetener sugar alcohol used as a sweetener in a special dietary foods.
Igoe, Robert S. 1983. Dictionary of Food Ingredients. Van Nostrand and Reinhold Company.
is a sweetener which is a natural sugar substitute commercially made form the polysaccharide xylan obtained from birch trees. It is as sweet as sucrose and has a negative heat of solution which results in a cooling effect. It has a lower viscosity than sugar. It is used in chewing gum, throat lozenges, and chocolate.
Excerpts from Bender, Arnold E. 1990. Dictionary of Nutrition and Food Technology. Butterworths, Boston.
Five-carbon sugar alcohol corresponding to the sugar xylulose. As sweet as sucrose, less prone to cause dental decay and used in some 'sugar-free' products such as chewing gum.
