[themgt]

I'd be curious if they tried this study with xylitol. I chew xylitol gum for dental health and from my understanding it's not thought to contribute to metabolic problems in reasonable quantities:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol#Diabetes

[whyenot]

Xylitol was not included in the study. Because xylitol is absorbed more slowly from the gut and gut microflora appear to be the mechanism of action found in this study, I'd personally be at least a little concerned.

Mice in this study were given sweeteners for 11 weeks, long enough that their use apparently led to changes in microflora which were associated with glucose intolerance. Existing studies of xylitol could well be for much shorter lengths of time and might not have been able to detect these kinds of changes.

[yupmetoo]

I wonder then if its the absorption of the gut or if it is the conditioning. If the gut flora have to adapt to trying to break down an impenetrable compound they might become super strong at breaking down simpler molecules no?

[001sky]

"from my understanding it's not thought to contribute to metabolic problems in reasonable quantities"

Xylitol is quite toxic to some animals, such as dogs tho.

http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/arti...

edit: this snippet maybe worth highlighting

In both humans and dogs, the level of blood sugar is controlled by the release of insulin from the pancreas. Xylitol does not stimulate the release of insulin from the pancreas in humans. However, when non-primate species (e.g., a dog) eat something containing xylitol, the xylitol is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, resulting in a potent release of insulin from the pancreas. This rapid release of insulin results in a rapid and profound decrease in the level of blood sugar (hypoglycemia), an effect that occurs within 10-60 minutes of eating the xylitol. Untreated, this [canine] hypoglycemia can be life-threatening.

[jerf]

That doesn't help much, though. There's all kinds of things that are toxic to one species and not another, even just in Mammalia, and everything that anything anywhere ever eats is definitely not good for some other species.

[001sky]

The mechanism of toxicity (in dogs) is specifically relevant. There are multiple studies showing that artificial sweeteners in general are unhealty -- the body recognizes them -- and takes a variety of actions as a result.

Clearly these reactions in some cases may be simply performance related (see: http://www.gssiweb.org/Article/sse-118-carbohydrate-mouth-ri...). Whilst others can be catastrophic (see: xylitol in dogs).

[sp332]

From the caption on one of the figures (which is all I can access without buying the article) "NAS; saccharin, sucralose and aspartame". So I don't think they tried xylitol.

[erickhill]

Agreed, or stevia (which is found in some high-priced colas, among other products).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia