Abstract
Objective To describe and evaluate the xylitol products’ applicability and its effects in the health area worldwide utilizing a bibliometric analysis from randomized controlled trials (RCT) with humans. Material and Methods Electronic searches were carried out in Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and VHL databases. The main data extracted were: year, area of applicability, type of treatment, country, journal, xylitol posology and concentration, presentation form, outcomes, and effects. Results From 1476 studies, 257 were included. These studies were published between 1973-2021. The majority was carried out in dentistry (73.9%) and under preventive treatment (67.4%). These studies were developed in the USA (15.4%) and published in Caries Research (6.6%). The posology and concentration ranged between 0.004-67 g/day and 0.002-100%, respectively. The xylitol is usually used in the chewing gum form (44.0%), and for antimicrobial activity evaluation (38.5%). A positive effect was observed in 204 studies (79.3%) and was associated with xylitol concentration ≥ 15(p=0.007). Side effects were reported in 8.2and were associated with posology ≥ 5 g/day (p=0.03). Conclusion Most studies with xylitol were conducted to prevent diseases in the dentistry field. The chewing gum form and antimicrobial activity evaluation were more frequent. Most xylitol products have a positive effect, and few studies report side effects.
Highlights
Xylitol is a sugar alcohol found in fruits and vegetables and exhibits the same sucrose sweetness [1]
The xylitol can be used in medicine to treat, for example, acute otitis media (AOM) because of its antibacterial properties against Streptococcus pneumoniae [10,11] and to facilitate gastric emptying after surgical procedures [7,12]
Year of Publication and Age Groups The randomized controlled trials (RCT) included in this bibliometric study were published between 1973 and 2021
Summary
Xylitol is a sugar alcohol (or polyol) found in fruits and vegetables and exhibits the same sucrose sweetness [1]. Its consumption has no physiological requirement and can be considered a sucrose substitute [2]. This product is found in various formulations, including chewing gum, tablet, candy, toothpaste, mouthwash, gel, and spray [3-5]. It can be used to prevent and / or treat diseases of different areas, such as dentistry, medicine, and nutrition [6-9]. The xylitol is used as an adjuvant method to dental caries prevention and is recommended as part of oral health promotion programs. It is a non-cariogenic sugar due to its inability to be metabolized by oral microorganisms [5]. Solutions with xylitol can be used to control blood glucose levels [13,14], and malnutrition in postoperative patients [15,16]
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