Sinus Book Cover At
Xylitol is a natural sugar. It is commonly used by diabetics for a sweetener instead of cane sugar. Xylitol is metabolized by the liver and not by insulin. It is a bad food for bacteria.

Xylitol has a unique property whereby it causes bacteria not to stick to membranes. Many dentists recommend chewing Xylitol chewing gum as a means of preventing cavities; the bacteria don’t stick to the teeth.

You can add Xylitol to the Hydro Pulse® saline solution. This wlll reduce the bacterial load in the sinuses.

Xylitol is not an antibiotic and does not specifically kill a bacteria. On the other hand the number of bacteria in your nose can be significantly reduced.

Advantages: Xylital is a regular sugar you can ingest- swallow. It will not build up a resistance to any bacteria.
Xylitol is inexpensive. It is sold at any market by the pound; it is usually found in the Diabetic section of any food market.
Using Xylitol in any form eating it or irrigating with it has no effect on producing secondary fungal overgrowth; it does not kill the good bacteria in your intestines. You don’t need to take a probiotic when you use this.

WHEN TO ADD XYLITOL
I recommend adding Xylitol to the salne when patients continue to have a low grade sinus infection. They don’t seem to clear up completely. They may have too few nasal cilia to effectively sweep away the bacteria and therefore bacteria multiply despite best efforts. For example, someone who has had radiation therapy to the head may have their cilia function reduced. Or some one why has had too much nasal turbinate material removed, as in Empty Nose Syndrome, may be constantly battling a low grade infection.
Note that adding Xylitol ot the irrigation solution will seldom cure a full blown sinus infection.

WHAT CONCENTRATION OF XYLITOL?
There seems to be a large range of concentrations that people find useful. In general we start with a 1% concentration. This is made by adding 500 cc of warm water to the mark on the Hydro Pulse container. Then add one packet of Breathe.ease XL and two teaspoons of Xylitol sugar. Mix well.
Does a higher concentration work better for you? Again, people vary. I would recommend you try two teaspoons to 500 cc – the one percent solution first. You can gradually increase the concentration:
2 teaspoons makes a one percent
3 teaspoons make a 1.5%
4 teaspoons makes a 2% solution.

The advantage of using the Xylitol in this manner is that it can be used regularly without concern of building a resistance to it.

As always, the pressure of the stream from the Hydro Pulse® adapter should be almost one inch high–about the width of your thumb.

ADDING ANTIBIOTICS to the Hydro Pulse® irrigation. I don’t know of any large study of adding antibiotics , Pulmicort or other medication to the Xylitol solution. In theory I don’t know of any reason why it should affect the strength of the antibiotic.