"Top secret ingredient" protects U.S. military teeth
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By Jouni Kantola
In 2005, the U.S. Army replaced the gum that was included in MREs (or troop field rations) with gum using xylitol sweetener.
In a report on the subject on Army NewsWatch at the end of 2004, chewing gum from the Finnish company Fennobon is described as containing "a top-secret ingredient called xylitol".
Fennobon is the only completely Finnish company actually producing chewing gum these days, with net sales of around EUR 5.6 million, some 45% of which goes for export.
Around three years ago, xylitol was still a relatively unknown quantity in the United States.
There were only two xylitol chewing gums on the market: one was Xylimax, made by a Fennobon sub-contractor, and the other was Koolerz from the American manufacturer Carefree.
The Fennobon CEO Miska Kuusela reports that these days things have changed a good deal, and nowadays there are many times more xylitol gums on sale in the U.S.
"Though it has to be said that most of the chewing gums, for example those from the world’s biggest producers Wrigleys, contain such small quantities of xylitol that they cannot be said to have much positive impact on dental hygiene”, says Kuusela.
The expert explaining the changeover in the Army video, Navy Captain and Professor Blaine Cook from the Naval Post-Graduate Dental School, compares xylitol with fluoride in assessing its importance for the soldiers’ teeth.
"Fluoride came out in the 50s and 60s, and a lot of people have seen dramatic decreases in cavity rates due to that. I think this is the next emerging trend - that xylitol really has potential above and in addition to the fluoride we are using."
The U.S. Army’s decision was hastened not only by a recognition that soldiers were returning from active duty - for instance in Iraq, where the business of brushing and flossing was perhaps not uppermost in their minds - with their teeth in worse shape than when they left, but also by the discovery that it was costing around twice as much to repair the damage caused by dental caries.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 30.9.2007
More on this subject:
 Xylitol is gone, but the memory lingers on
Links:
MREs to contain Xylitol gum (click on video at end for Army NewsWatch clip)
Danisco: Xylitol Replaces Gum in MRE Sundry Pack
Fennobon: Xylitol conquering the world
Fennobon Xylimax (Export Brochure, .pdf file)
JOUNI KANTOLA / Helsingin Sanomat
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