Xylitol in preventing acute otitis media

Xylitol is a polyol sugar alcohol and is referred to as birch sugar, becaus e it can be produced from birch. Natural sources of xylitol include plums, strawberries, raspberries and rowanberries. Xylitol inhibits the growth of Streptococcus pneumoniae and it inhibits the attachment of both pneumococci and Haemophilus influenzae on the nasopharyngeal cells. In two clinical tr ials xylitol was found efficient to prevent the development of acute otitis media with a daily dose of 8.4-10 g of xylitol given in five divided doses . The efficacy in these 2-3 months follow-up trials was similar to 40% when chewing gum was used and similar to 30% with xylitol syrup. The need to us e antimicrobials reduced markedly when using xylitol. In a high-risk group of children with tympanostomy tubes xylitol was ineffective in preventing o titis. Xylitol appears to be an attractive alternative to prevent acute oti tis media. A more practical frequency of doses should be found before its u se can be widely recommended. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.