Xylitol, a sugar alcohol, may be an additional approach to nasal infection.

[Guest guest]

--Xylitol, a sugar alcohol, may be an additional approach to

nasal infection. Most research has been on its effect

bacteria causing cavities. But, I've select points related

to its second main application, ear infections.

--Most studies used Xylitol chewing gum, but the Xylitol

nasal-spray seems to be better for the nose. And I figure it

would also be possible to add it for the Grossman Irrigator.

--Different sugar alcohols seem to match with different

bacteria, but Xylitol seems to mimic some of the others. On

the other hand, there may be a different sugar that matches

best with CNS.

--Don’t know about yeast, but yeast does try to eat it and

get “indigestion,” as bacteria do. Does yeast need to

“adhere.”??

--Here are some excerpts from three sources. I have not put

" … " where I’ve omitted text. or even to kept the different

sources straight, but everything not in brackets is an

excerpt.

-- K

------------------------

XYLITOL

PRINCIPAL PROPOSED USES: CAVITY PREVENTION, EAR INFECTIONS,

GINGIVITIS

--Researchers discovered that Xylitol does indeed inhibit

Streptococcus pneumoniae, , which is a cause of ear

infections. .and might also work against Haemophilus

influenza (another bacteria that causes ear infections).11,

--One large double-blind placebo-controlled trial of 857

children found The gum effective, reducing the risk of

developing ear infections by a full 40%. Similarly positive

results had been seen in an earlier double-blind study by

the same researchers, evaluating about 300 children.25

--Interestingly, in this day of worry concerning the overuse

of antibiotics, when the medical records of each child's

family doctor were reviewed, the sucrose group was

prescribed antimicrobial drugs 60 times while the Xylitol

group was prescribed 34.

http://community.healthgate.com/GetContent.asp?siteid=iHerb &

docid=/tnp/pg000935

<http://community.healthgate.com/GetContent.asp?siteid=iHerb

& docid=/tnp/pg000935>

HOW DOES IT WORK?

--The bacteria eat the Xylitol, but can’t use it, so they

have to get rid of it. This takes energy and gives the

bacteria what we humans experience as indigestion.

--It also blocks the ability of these bacteria to hold on to

the surfaces in our bodies.

--[also indications that stimulates the cleansing waves of

the cilia in the nose, which may have been suppressed]

http://xylitolnow.com/fyi.html

Finish physicians have done excellent studies showing

that a 5% solution of Xylitol on cells in the nose releases

the attachment of more than half of the invading bacteria,

that are the major cause of respiratory infections. It's

like soap for your nose!

Attachment is what infection is all about. If bacteria

can't become attached there is no infection. When you wash

your hands you wash away bacteria. It's the same with the

nose.

http://www.nasal-xylitol.com/

[THIS ONE IS RE: CAVITIES]

Chewing Xylitol flavored gum

--once a day had little benefit.

--Twice a day reduced cavities by 40%,

--three times a day by 60% and by chewing this gum

--five times a day cavities were reduced by more than 80%.

The chart below is Dr. Peldyak's summary of eleven clinical

studies showing how well Xylitol does at preventing tooth

decay.

--------------------------

S. Pneumo got indigestion from the Xylitol, and so, to a

lesser extent, did ….

The Finnish doctors took cells from the nose and several

strains of the bacteria that cause most of the infections.

Dividing each into two groups they put a 5% solution of

Xylitol in one group of the cells and the bacteria.

Finally, they actually counted the bacteria attached to each

cell. The graph shows what they found.

0% 5% Xylitol solution

s. pneumo 40 12

H. Flu 22 6

M Catar 13 4

http://www.nasal-xylitol.com/xylitol.html

Most bacteria have many arms, called pili or fimbriae, on

which are many hands, called lectins, that recognize

specific sugar complexes on the surface of cells and hang

on to them. The sugars are not the same as the table sugar

we all are familiar with, but are similar sugars with names

like mannose, fructose, galactose, xylose, that are much

more helpful to us than is table sugar.

Xylitol has the advantage, of being able to look like many

of the other sugars. The other sugars are all in a ring form

and fixed. Xylitol is an open molecule and can bend and

rotate so that it looks like parts of many other sugars.

Just as Zafriri showed that fructose in cranberry juice

could mimic mannose and impede the adherence of urinary

bacteria, Xylitol is able to mime many other sugars.

[Guest guest]

I recommend these chewable xylitol vitamins for kids -- Kal Ear-a-Saurus.

They are essentially all xylitol, plus root beer flavoring, and I bought them

when I was having a bout of tinnitus. They totally cured it. Plus, it's

nice to have a supplement that tastes like root beer for a change.

Peggy

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Stricken: Voices from the Hidden Epidemic of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:

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