Xylitol is a natural substance found in fibrous vegetables and fruit, as well as in corn cobs and various hardwood trees like birch. It is a natural, intermediate product which regularly occurs in the glucose metabolism of humans and animals, as well as in the metabolism of several plants and micro-organisms. Xylitol is produced naturally in our bodies; in fact, we make up to 15 grams daily during normal metabolism. Whilst xylitol sounds like a chemical, it is not. Its original name came from Finland and has produced confusion in many non-European minds.

There is a dramatic difference between the process used to extract xylitol from corn versus birch trees. The corn cob source appears to be more environmentally friendly than birch bark source. Corn cob is a renewable resource each year and therefore has the least environmental impact. The birch bark source xylitol involves harvesting the bark from birch trees. This in effect is killing the tree which forces the tree to be cut down. The birch tree is not a good renewable resource (even though it can be regrown) as it takes about 15 years before a tree can be harvested. For this reason, we only use xylitol from corn which is going through fermentation and therefore can be claimed to be natural.