ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996 TAG: 9611110052
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HELSINKI, FINLAND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Parents who despair because of their children's chronic ear infections may have an easy cure: chewing gum that contains the natural sweetener xylitol.
``We found that regular doses of xylitol cut ear infections by up to 50 percent," said Matti Uhari, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Oulu.
Xylitol, found in the tissues of such plants as birch and maple trees, corn cobs and straw, was first discovered in Germany at the turn of the century.
It began to be used commercially as a sweetener in 1975 after extensive studies by Finnish researchers discovered that it prevents tooth decay. It also can be ingested in medicines, toothpaste and pastilles.
The findings on the use of xylitol in chewing gum, published Friday in the British Medical Journal, will be welcome news for every parent whose child has tossed through the night with burning earaches.
Uhari's team gave 306 children, aged 2 to 6, gum containing xylitol and ordinary gum five times a day for two months at preschools in Oulu, 380 miles north of Helsinki.
Those who chewed ordinary sugared gum continued to have ear infections, but the incidence among xylitol chewers fell by some 50 percent, Uhari said.
Also, about one-third fewer children suffered ear infections in the xylitol group as in the control group, he said.
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB