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.
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 of natural origin.
