# Is there a conspiracy against xylitol? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 29, 2013, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-conspiracy-against-xylitol/662194 "2013-06-29T11:18:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stewf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@stewf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stewf)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-conspiracy-against-xylitol/662194/1 "2013-06-29T11:18:53Z")
[Xylitol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol) appears to be a good alternative to sugar, with a positive effect on dental health and a better taste than stevia. Side effects, such as diarrhea and flatulence, are minor and allegedly subside after repeated use. Despite these benefits, I find it difficult to find non-biased information and recent scientific studies from US sources. It seems to be much better known in Europe, especially Finland where it is as common as fluoride use in the States. What are the reasons for this? Is there really a silencing conspiracy by the sugar and corn lobbies? Some say even dentists want to stop the spread of xylitol because it would put them out of work. (This sounds a little far fetched to me. I can’t imagine the dental industry is that corrupt as a whole.) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-conspiracy-against-xylitol/662194/2 "2013-06-29T11:35:09Z")
It can kill a dog. We don’t use it for that reason. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-conspiracy-against-xylitol/662194/3 "2013-06-29T13:11:18Z")
I’m a dentist and am okay with xylitol. Generally when it comes to teeth, anything that replaces sugar and can’t be metabolized by the oral bacteria is fine with me. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-conspiracy-against-xylitol/662194/4 "2013-06-29T13:20:22Z")
I wasn’t aware of any “conspiracy.” If you’re going on what you find from internet searches, well, all I can say is no matter what you search for you’ll find all manner of charlatans and woo peddlers. I personally have had issues with some sugar alcohols (e.g. maltitol) causing me to be, er, a faucet, so I avoid most of them now. Whatever they use in sugar-free Slurpees causes me half a day of rumbling and burbling, so those are off the list too. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-conspiracy-against-xylitol/662194/5 "2013-06-30T04:33:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Side effects, such as diarrhea and flatulence, are minor and allegedly subside after repeated use. They tried putting this in really small print on the xylitol labels, but people were turned off anyway, for some inexplicable reason. It’s gotta be a conspiracy. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-conspiracy-against-xylitol/662194/6 "2013-06-30T04:45:33Z")
Conspiracy theories are best suited to Great Debates. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-conspiracy-against-xylitol/662194/7 "2013-06-30T05:36:55Z")
Tastes minty. Okay when used in mints, but less good elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Postariti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Postariti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Postariti)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-conspiracy-against-xylitol/662194/8 "2013-06-30T08:42:00Z")
From my own experience - Diarrhea - yes Minor - no Allegedly subside after repeated use - no Also, as dropzone says, it tastes minty. I found a recipe to make brownies with xylitol. It was horrible. Xylitol is easy to find. Every health food store has bags of it, and xylitol gum. You don’t see advertising for it because no one company owns it. Stevia is patented by one company, so they benefit from advertising it. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-conspiracy-against-xylitol/662194/9 "2013-06-30T09:41:11Z")
> [@Postariti](#): > > Stevia is patented by one company, so they benefit from advertising it. Stevia is not patented, and can not be patented. It’s a naturally occurring plant genus. Anyone can sell it, anyone can advertise it. The only patents pertaining to Stevia that i am aware of are for processes to extract the sweet stevioside/rebaudiside compounds. So long don’t extract those compounds, or do so using on one of the thousands of non-patented extraction processes, you are just fine. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-conspiracy-against-xylitol/662194/10 "2013-06-30T11:26:45Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Stevia is not patented, and can not be patented. It’s a naturally occurring plant genus. Anyone can sell it, anyone can advertise it. I have no idea if Stevia is patented, but there is nothing preventing use patents for natural products. The pharmaceutical industry does it all the time. Levostatin is one example. You cannot find you own way to extract of produce that and sell it as a drug to lower cholesterol. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-conspiracy-against-xylitol/662194/11 "2013-07-01T03:42:12Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > I have no idea if Stevia is patented, but there is nothing preventing use patents for natural products. Yeah, there is. It’s called patent law. [You can not patent something that occurs in the natural world.](http://digital-law-online.info/lpdi1.0/treatise54.html) > [@](#): > > The pharmaceutical industry does it all the time. No, they don’t, because they can’t. > [@](#): > > Levostatin is one example. No, it isn’t. The only[patent for Lovistatin](http://www.patentlens.net/patentlens/patents.html?patnums=US_4294926&language=&) that had any commercial application was one for the production of the compound from a specific species grown in liquid media from which the compound was isolated using a solvent and chromotography. IOW it wasn’t the compound that was patented, it was the production process. Anyone was, and always has been, free to produce and market lovostatin from the numerous other species that produce it, or to produce it from the same species by growing them on solid media. The product was never patented because it could not be patented. > [@](#): > > You cannot find you own way to extract of produce that and sell it as a drug to lower cholesterol. Of course you can. You just can’t do it using a single species grown in liquid medium and using solvent and chromotography for the isolation and extraction process. Use another species, use a solid medium or use something other than solvents and chromotography for the extraction and and you can sell it to your heart’s content.