Sorbitol and Oral Health
It’s true that I have been using a toothpaste that contains sorbitol in it.
Sorbitol is a sugar substitute. Sorbitol gum has been shown to reduce the amount of cavities that people develop in studies. However, not as much as xylitol gum.
The other key factor is that the bacteria in your mouth cannot use xylitol at all. However, they can use sorbitol in a way that isn’t as powerful as glucose. You could say that they process sorbitol less efficiently.
In other words, the end product of their digestion of sorbitol produces less energy than glucose.
Those studies’ results are only showing part of the picture. Of course there are less cavities with sorbitol, because sorbitol isn’t processed by bacteria as well as glucose is.
But, the fact of the matter remains, the bacteria can still feed on sorbitol.
Not true for xylitol . There is no way for the bacteria to process xylitol. It is a ‘dead’ food for them.
Xylitol has other health giving effects as well. Xylitol consumption can increase the human body’s ability to absorb calcium.
Xylitol sugar is diabetic friendly because it utlizes only tiny amounts of insulin to be processed, unlike glucose.
More on xylitol? Xylitol for Gum Health
