Xylitol - Nasal, Sinus, Ear Infections and Asthma

Especially at this time of year, we need an arsenal of remedies to address these problems. Nasal xylitol addresses the source of sinus and ear infections, allergies and asthma. These problems all begin with either infections or irritants that are in the back of the nose.
What is xylitol? It occurs naturally in a number of fruits and vegetables and is a normal constituent of a human metabolism. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol, obtained commercially from wood sugar, xylose. It is a natural substance that occurs in the body. The body makes about 10 grams every day. It is not a drug. It is commonly used as a sugar substitute in many foods, especially chewing gum, because such use prevents tooth decay. Most people are not aware of this benefit because such a claim classifies xylitol as a drug, crossing a boundary not allowed by the Food and Drug Administration. Freedom of speech does allow us to discuss the truth as we see it and I choose to present information based on research.
The nose is a nidus—a nest where problems begin. The fine hairs in the nose act as filters and collect many contaminants and prevent their entry into the sinuses and lungs. However, like any filter, it requires maintenance and that is where xylitol comes in. The fact that we move about 3,000 gallons of air through the nose and into the lungs every day opens it to all kinds of pollution. Harmful bacteria living there move into the ear canal or the sinuses to cause infections and irritants there are the most common causes of allergies, colds, infections, nasal drip, and asthma. Stop the problem at its source and you are doing what good hygiene requires us to do when we wash our hands before eating. We all have a means of cleansing these harmful substances that reduce the chance of getting ill.
Now, there is a way to help this natural process. Cleaning this nest regularly helps to remove infection causing bacteria as well as the irritants that trigger allergies and asthma, a running nose and the complications that follow. The body attempts to wash out the irritant and your nose runs and the fluid settles in the throat. You cough in an attempt to expel and clear the throat. The continued existence of the moisture, warmth and then bacteria, begin to slowly move into the lungs and wreak havoc there, as well.
Winter puts us at additional risk, especially with forced hot air pushing dust and unseen particles in our furnace ducts into the air we breathe. Humidifiers and air cleaners, filters on the furnace and even the new HEPA filters help. Ionizers that charge the particles of dust and allergens so that they cling to a strip of metal are now becoming a necessity for many Americans, especially in the northeast, where we deal with the emissions of industry and the confinement in work places and our own homes.
Xylitol allows us, in spite of all the above, to clean this nest regularly. Some experience appears to indicate that it is all we really need. Just as we cannot prevent our hands from getting dirty — we cannot prevent contaminants from entering the nose and sinuses. As we travel through so many different settings: home, work, church, malls, funeral homes, parties, weddings and meetings (and that includes the confined areas in planes or cars), we shake hands, people cough and sneeze, and the dust particles become airborne. There are three reasons that xylitol, in a nasal spray, works to clean one of the most important orifices in the human anatomy. This is what it does:
* Xylitol decreases the adherence of harmful bacteria to the cells in our nose and selects for bacteria that cause fewer infections.
* The concentration of xylitol stimulates our own defensive washing of the nose.
All of these are totally new concepts in medical practice. But they are concepts whose time has come because they provide a safe and reasonable option to some of the major health problems that we now face with infections and allergies.
Why Nasal Xylitol Works on Infections
The most commonly accepted way of dealing with bacteria is to kill them with antibiotics. But we have to use the more expensive and potent newer antibiotics because the bacteria have become resistant to the earlier generations of antibiotics. The more antibiotics we use, the more problems we have with resistant bacteria.
This is one of the biggest problems facing us today as we deal with infections. We need other options—and we have them, but they don’t make money for our profit oriented health care system so there is no motive for studying them and few people know about them.
Before bacteria can cause an infection, it has to be able to attach to our body. It holds on to specific sugar complexes that are on the surfaces of our cells. Putting these sugars, or other similar looking sugars, in with the bacteria fills up their binding sites and decreases the ability of bacteria to hold on to our body cells. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol that does this for several problem-causing bacteria.
Feeding xylitol, regularly, to the bacteria that normally live in the back of our noses reduces their numbers and has actually been shown to tame some bacteria so that they cause fewer problems. Taming bacteria is a better idea than killing them. Allergies and asthma begin from irritants in the nose. Why not help wash them out?

THE PROBLEM WITH SALINE
Covering the cells in our airways, underneath the mucus, is the airway surface fluid. For places where the mucus is not present, or not working adequately, there are several substances in this fluid that, separately and together, work against bacteria. These substances are salt-sensitive; that is, the higher the salt concentration, the less they work. Salt dries up the fluids and hinders the natural washing mechanism of the body. The University of Iowa is looking at what xylitol does to help this process.
The concentration decreases the concentration of salt in the airway surface fluid, which helps our own antibiotic substances there to be more effective. The problem with saline is, it works against the substances that are protective to our natural defenses.
IF IT’S THAT GOOD, WHY DON’T MORE PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT IT?
This product was recently named (April 2004), the number one new product in health food stores in the United States. That’s not bad for the fourth year of business with no media advertising — thanks to those users who have spread the word. The spray is not a drug, anymore than soap is! It cleans your nose, and the benefits come from a clean nose. The only way people will learn about this practical and sensible way to help the immune system wash pollutants from the back of your nose, is by word of mouth. The results, people who use it experience, is the best route. Education is the way to learn good hygiene and it’s importance in "keeping your nose clean."
Now, I have to admit that I have often times promoted the use of the "Netty pot" and a saline solution. I was wrong, and I heard from many of my friends about the ineffectiveness of the saline solution. When my research leads to answers which are new and totally opposite to what I believe—I need to approach it with an "open mind." This body of knowledge makes sense. A runny nose on a cold day cleared my stuffed nose and I returned from sledding feeling better. I have be plagued with these related problems of colds, flu, stuffy nose and asthma for many years. This is music to my ears and I have been using this product for the past year with excellent results.
If you want more information on the subject, simply insert "Xylitol" in your search engine and read on. You can be part of the solution and avoid the root of the problem by reading the evidence and deciding for yourself whether it works or not.