The Urbana, Illinois ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center wrote case descriptions of eight adult dogs who suffered from acute liver failure after eating xylitol. Xylitol is the sugar extracted from birch trees. It is very sweet tasting and has many health benefits. When used to sweeten chewing gum it lowers incidence of dental cavities and is useful at preventing recurrent earaches in kids. My 6 year old loves the taste of the peppermint flavored Xylitol gum. And it nice to know he is chewing something that is even beneficial for him.
When people eat xylitol it has little to no effect on insulin levels. But in dogs, this is completely different. Xylitol causes dogs to release large amounts of insulin and the dogs become severely hypoglycemic. A 2004 report described a Labrador retriever who became severely hypoglycemic and needed to be treated with IV sugar solutions after eating xylitol sweetened gum. There is also a recent publication describing eight separate cases where dogs became very ill after eating xylitol containing products. Only two of the dogs survived. An increasing number of food products contain xylitol, for good reason, it tastes good, and is healthy for people. My only complaint is that it doesn't really work for baking, but is a great alternative to sugar in your coffee/tea, or in freshly squeezed lemonade. But just don't let the dog get a hold of it, it can not only be unheathy, but as studies point out, it can easily be deadly.
*Big thank you to Jacob Schor N.D., who helped found the study to back up this entry. To subscribe to his newsletter, please call his office located in Denver. *
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