Gummy Bear Candies With Xylitol Help Fight Cavities

Gummy bear candies lovers have got one more reason to eat daily after a U.S. study found sweets made with the sugar substitute xylitol could actually minimize the risk of cavities.

But wait…not all the candies are safe for your teeth. It's only a specific candy that scientists have created to fight plaque, a bacterium that contributes to tooth decay and gum disease.

For their study, a team of American researchers, headed by Kiet A. Ly from the University of Washington, first engineered a gummy bear with a tooth-protecting sugar called xylitol, which is already linked to fighting the harmful Mutans streptococci (MS) bacteria that is known to cause tooth decay.

The study, published online in the journal BMC Oral Health, included 150 children aged five to ten. Lead researcher Ly and colleagues then randomly assigned all the study participants to have high dose Gummy bears (containing 15.6g of xylitol) or low dose gummy bears (containing 11.7g of xylitol) and compared them with a group who were given bear candies containing 44.7g of mannitol, another artificial sweetener. All the children get four xylitol-sweetened gummy bears three times a day during school hours.

After a six-week follow-up, the researchers found that both the xylitol group and the mannitol group remarkably reduced their dental plaque. The researchers noticed that Xylitol, a naturally-occurring sugar alcohol that's frequently used as a sweetener, has significant reduced the levels of harmfulmutans streptococci(MS) bacteria in the children's plaque.

"For xylitol to be successfully used in oral health promotion programs amongst primary school children, an effective means of delivering xylitol must be identified. Gummy bears would seem to be more ideal than chewing gum," Ly said.

"Based on our findings, it is feasible to develop a clinical trial of a gummy-based (cavity) prevention program. Such a study is now being carried out in the East Cleveland primary school district," Ly added.

The recent findings go against The Canadian Dental Association, which recommends that people can ward off their tooth decay and gum disease by avoiding candies that can stick to teeth.

The researchers concluded that although their research suggests that a xylitol gummy bear snack may be an alternative to xylitol chewing gum for the prevention of dental decay, a larger clinical trial is needed to confirm the xylitol results.