Xylitol—The Sweet Secret for Your Teeth and Waistline
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
70 Featured Featured 1 Xylitol–the sweet secret Xylitol—the sweet secret Healthy Hygiene Hints 2 Tongue cleaning Community News 2 for your teeth and waistline Christmas wishes Added sugar may be the single unhealthiest ingredient in the today’s diet. Over the past 20 years, there has been a push to consume xylitol instead of sugar and its appearance means it can be sprinkled or used in place of traditional sugar in cooking and baking in the exact same quantity. This month... In the lead up to Christmas, it’s So what do we know about Xylitol? the portal blood supply to the liver, difficult to avoid sugary treats. where it is converted to glucose which Luckily, there’s an alternative Xylitol is an all-natural alternative to provides energy. sweetener that not only avoids the sugar and can be found in berries and perils of traditional sugar, but can other fruits, some vegetables and in the How does Xylitol impact oral health? actually provide benefits to your oral woody fibres of birch tree and corncobs. health and to your waistline! In fact, our bodies produce up to 15g of When it comes to children in particular, several clinical trials undertaken around Be sure to read our feature to learn xylitol daily during normal metabolism. the benefits and how you can use the year 2000, showed that when mums- this special ingredient. Traditionally, it has been used in chewing to-be chewed gum containing Xylitol gums, toothpastes and mouthwash as it regularly, it actually resulted in a reduced Another way to stay on top of your has a strong sweetening effect but no number of Streptococcus Mutans (the your dental hygiene this Christmas— aftertaste. It is a common ingredient in bacteria responsible for tooth decay) in Ingrid gives us some tips on looking after the lesser considered of part sugar-free candies, mints, and diabetes- their children and this continued at least of your mouth. friendly foods. until the children were up to 5 years of Keeping in the spirit, the Bite Xylitol has a negligible effect on blood sugar age (Isokangas, et al. 2000). team recently celebrated levels and can help stabilize blood sugar Other research on children has found that Christmas in style. levels, a very useful piece of information, in xylitol lollies, pops, ice, gums, puddings, Check out what we particular for people with diabetes. and cookies help in arresting dental decay. got up to! The natural sweetener has a glycaemic Follow-up studies five years later showed Wishing you all a index of just 7, compared to sugar which that xylitol gum resulted in reduction of great holiday! has a glycaemic index of 65. Dietary caries by 59% against no gum use. xylitol is easily metabolised by the Trials conducted in Finland, a major body. A small portion is slowly absorbed producer of xylitol, proved that children through the small intestine where it of xylitol-treated mothers had lower is metabolised by friendly bacteria to levels of S. mutans than those treated short-chain fatty acids and carried in with fluoride varnish or chlorhexidine. Read more continued Consistently using small amounts of xylitol stimulates saliva flow and increases saliva’s buffering capacity and protective factors in the mouth. Xylitol Chr istmas Instructions Cake Recipe from ‘Sweet Friends’ New Zealand 1. Mix fruit, sherry (rum, orange juice or brandy), Ingredients Spry® Xylitol Sweetener and spices and allow to stand at least 2 hours. (Overnight is more • 4 cups of mixed fruit. preferable). • 1 cup dates. • 2 tabs sherry, rum, brandy or orange juice. 2. Combine butter and milk in a saucepan over a low heat and stir till melted • 1½ cups Spry® Xylo Sweet • cup milk. 3. Add to fruit mixture. • 250 gms butter 4. Mix together the eggs and essences and add • 3 eggs (beaten) to the above. • 3 cups plain flour 5. Finally add in sifted flour. Mix thoroughly and Teaspoons of each the following place in 20 cm tin lined with baking paper • Nutmeg 6. Bake in very slow oven for 5½ hours or • Ground Ginger till cooked. • Cinnamon 7. Pour over extra spirits or orange juice if • Baking Soda desired while still warm. • Vanilla Essence • Lemon Essence 8. Also keeps well stored in the fridge. Celebrate Community news everyday heros. Healthy Hygiene Hints Christmas wishes Let us know if Tongue cleaning you have a cause Just like brushing and flossing your teeth—to At the end of November, we celebrated you’d like us to keep the bacteria away—the same goes for your Christmas by sailing on one of Brisbane’s best shout about. tongue. kept secrets, The Aristocat (from Brisbane We all form coatings over our tongue through Yacht Charters, Cleveland). the anatomical features called papillae which trap We sailed to Peel Island and had a beautiful microorganisms and oral debris consisting of food, swim in Horseshoe Bay. saliva and dead epithelial cells. A daily, gentle brush over with a tongue cleaner, From the team at Bite Dental, we wish you tongue scraper or tongue brush will help clean this all a Merry Christmas and a very safe and coating off the surface of the tongue. prosperous 20192019.9. elp The good news is that it might even help d to reduce bad breath, tooth decay and gum disease. Ingr id .com.au Like us /bitedental.au P 3221 5399 E smile @ bitedental.com.au.