You may already be a xylitol consumer looking for a different brand or size, or you might not have used xylitol much (or at all) and are considering xylitol as your choice for your sweetening product. If you fall into the latter, I highly recommend xylitol as your sugar-alternative, and I highly recommend Xlear's XyloSweet xylitol.
Xylitol is without question my top-pick when it comes to products I can use in place of regular table sugar, and I feel xylitol is a superior to virtually every other product of this type. Here is why:
1) SAFETY -- Xylitol is SAFE FOR PEOPLE! --- there is ZERO concern with xylitol toxicity in humans, and xylitol is actually LESS carcinogenic than normal sugar (note xylitol IS toxic to dogs)
2) GI-FRIENDLY -- Xylitol is NOT a gastrointestinal irritant, and it does NOT have a strong laxative effect like sorbitol (it still can have a laxative effect, but it is minor compared to other sugar alcohols, and the body quickly adapts with regular consumption)
3) UNIQUE DENTAL BENEFITS -- Xylitol actively strengthens teeth, may help remineralize enamel, & can help reduce dental decay (most other sugar alcohol products do not do this...they have a neutral effect rather than an actively positive one)
4) BAD BREATH CONTROL -- Xylitol can help control the bad breath that sugar causes/makes worse (xylitol has an antibacterial effect through starving bacteria: many of the bacteria linked to bad breath, which feed on sugar, are unable to feed on xylitol and die)
5) THE REAL TASTE OF --REAL-- SUGAR -- Xylitol actually tastes like sugar. I have used most every artificial sweetener around. Stevia In The Raw and some Erythritol products are pretty good, but still do not compare to xylitol. I cannot tell good xylitol apart from sugar and have not met anyone who can either.
(Note that Xylitol is NOT a calorie-free sweetener. Like many other sugar-free products, it still has some calories in the form of carbohydrates, but these carbohydrates do not come from sugar. Xylitol's reduction in numerical calories compared to sugar is about a 25-35% decrease, but this does not tell the entire story because sugar's calories come from sugar, but xylitol's calories come from xylitol, and xylitol, with a glycemic index of 12, is not processed identically to sugar, with a glycemic index of around 65. Like many other sugar-free products, excessive consumption, when taken to a point that goes half-past-ridiculous, may actually contribute to weight gain...so like just about everything else, there is a need for moderation & responsible consumption.)
Those are my reasons why I prefer xylitol, but is XyloSweet a good xylitol product? Not all xylitol is the same. It is produced via a few different methods & sources, and some have a taste which is closer to sugar than others. The way I rate xylitol that I consider to be good is as simple as, "does this xylitol product taste like sugar?" As for this specific XyloSweet product, I feel the answer is YES. It can be used like sugar for the most part, it has roughly the same sweetness intensity as sugar, and it tastes like sugar. (It is worth noting that Xlear's XyloSweet is made from raw materials sourced from both China and the United States--while that doesn't bother me personally, there are some makers of xylitol products using 100% US-made materials if one has a personal preference one way or another.) Value-wise, I think XyloSweet is an excellent value considering this is for 5 pounds.
My only complaint with XyloSweet is that the quality of the bag it comes in is not the greatest. It's on the thinner side and the zipper lock works poorly (I advise taping/securing it off and not relying on the zipper lock only as you may wind up with xylitol granules all over your kitchen floor.) With that said, the packaging is nowhere near as important as the product itself, and I am very satisfied with Xlear's Xyla.
So that's my reasoning for my preference of xylitol over other products, and why I recommend XyloSweet. The only real downside to xylitol is that it is expensive to produce and therefore expensive to buy. With that said, the safety & benefits of xylitol, plus its ability to taste identical to sugar is why I have consumed it for a very long time, why I feel the price is justifiable, and why I recommend it to others. I highly recommend giving this XyloSweet a try, as I think you will be very satisfied with the product.
100% Pure Xylitol
