Xylitol Overdose?

[3DStudent]

Hello all, I made a date cake and chocolate cookies yesterday with some frosting. I used xylitol in both. Normally a date cake I am ok with if I don't eat a lot, say about a fourth, in one sitting. But I wasn't measuring the amount of xylitol in the frosting I made, but I know it was a lot. I ate about three cookies and about a fifth of the cake total yesterday. I think this would have been fine without the concentrated frosting.

I've suffered the ill effects of too much xylitol before, harmless gas and the more annoying frequent diarrhea. I had the same symptoms yesterday, but it was probably the worst I've experienced. I had a bad stomach ache that seemed to be built up gas and it took a while to rid the bowels.

Last night I happened to look for a remedy for this and I came to the symptoms of xylitol overdose. I knew that in large amounts it can lower liver function. But I also found it can give acidosis, kidney stones, and kidney failure . So I got kind of worried about that part. By this time though, It was nearly all out of my system and I soon went to bed.

[quote author=http://weight-loss.emedtv.com/xylitol/xylitol-overdose.html]
Very high doses of xylitol given by IV have been reported to cause high uric acid levels in the blood (which could increase the risk of kidney stones), changes in liver function tests (which could indicate stress to the liver), and high acid levels in the blood. There problems are not predicted to occur for other routes of xylitol use, such as in gum or candy.
[/quote]

I don't seem to be showing any signs of kidney or liver problems, I had three small pieces of cake today and scraped the frosting off of one. I was thinking about tossing it, but it's really good . But clearly I need to lessen the amount of xylitol, and I've halved it before. The frosting seems to be a bad idea too, because it's quite concentrated. My birthday is Tuesday and my co-worker wanted to make me a cake so I gave her the date bread recipe. But after yesterday's event I've left her a message to half the xylitol.

So, am I too worried about this or is it legitimate? I can get worked up when I read about ill effects I may have done to myself. I hope this isn't too swampy, and wanted to keep it in the diet and health thread so anyone else may benefit from it.

 

[Laura]

Did you notice that they said these issues were related to high doses given by IV. ?

 

[3DStudent]

Did you notice that they said these issues were related to high doses given by IV. ?

Yeah I noticed that, and maybe I assumed that oral intake could reach the levels possible given by IV.

There 's also:

[quote author= http://weight-loss.emedtv.com/xylitol/xylitol-overdose.html]
Extremely high doses of xylitol given to laboratory animals for extended periods of time may increase the risk of tumor growth. This has not been shown to be the case in humans and is not predicted to be a problem, unless extremely high doses are taken for quite awhile.
[/quote]

But notice the bold and it has to be over a long time.

And the paper mentioning renal failure says:

[quote author= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15786825]
[...]
a case of xylitol infusion in a patient with previously unknown primary hyperoxaluria type 1.
[...]
the second patient who received xylitol infusion required chronic hemodialysis due to the unmasked hyperoxaluria type 1. Our cases demonstrate that patients with excessive endogenous oxalate generation are at high risk to develop acute renal failure.
[...]
Therefore, to prevent end-stage renal failure in these patients, important clinical factors should be considered as indicators for the underlying cause: history of alcohol abuse and severe high anion gap acidosis for ethylene glycol intoxication or history of long-lasting parenteral nutrition for xylitol-associated acute renal failure.
[/quote]

So the patient infused with xylitol seems to already had problems in that area, and not to mention it was again infused by IV. And the last part about needing a long lasting intake not through the intestines for having kidney problems makes this not a concern for oral consumption, osit.

So I think I might have been jumping to conclusions and not reading/thinking carefully. These reported effects seem to be under conditions that don't apply to the common person using xylitol orally. Sorry for any confusion or noise.

 

[Laura]

Not to worry. I made the same boo boo myself, once! It was so unpleasant I decided that I didn't care for sweets that much anyway! No more icing made with xylitol - it's just too intense.

Today we had a nice buckwheat carrot/raisin cake and pour pureed strawberries and mangos over it instead of icing. It was outstanding!

 

[Joe]

For date bread you really don't need any sweetner at all. Dates are plenty sweet by themselves.

 

[3DStudent]

No more icing made with xylitol - it's just too intense.

Today we had a nice buckwheat carrot/raisin cake and pour pureed strawberries and mangos over it instead of icing. It was outstanding!

I agree with the intensity of the icing. I have done a strawberry icing too and that makes more sense because it doesn't need xylitol to sweeten it.

For date bread you really don't need any sweetner at all. Dates are plenty sweet by themselves.

Yeah, even when I've halved the xylitol to 1/4 a cup it's not much difference in sweetness.

 

[Joe]

you came make "prune bread" too in the same way. No sweetener needed, just plenty of prunes.! :P

 

[Lirpa]

Kind of off topic and you may already know this but Xylitol is deadly to pets even in small amounts. Just an fyi...

 

[TwistedGibbous]

I have done a strawberry icing too and that makes more sense because it doesn't need xylitol to sweeten it.

Would you share your strawberry icing recipe/method?

 

[3DStudent]

Would you share your strawberry icing recipe/method?

I just put strawberries in a blender to make a puree. Then I added some tapioca flour to thicken it. It might not need it, but it would be a little runny without the flour. You could add some ghee if that doesn't sound too nasty. I don't measure the amounts, I just go for a taste and consistency.

 

[Franco]

Kind of off topic and you may already know this but Xylitol is deadly to pets even in small amounts. Just an fyi...

Did your dog die from Xylitol?

As far as i can see so far it's only poisonous to dogs not all pets.

 

[Laura]

Kind of off topic and you may already know this but Xylitol is deadly to pets even in small amounts. Just an fyi...

Did your dog die from Xylitol?

As far as i can see so far it's only poisonous to dogs not all pets.

Yeah, you have to be careful not to let the puppums get any. We are VERY careful about that with 6 dogs and 7 puppies in the house!

 

[Ben]

From another thread:

Something happened a couple of hours after my post on the date bread though. My stomach got upset and I had pain that lasted for a while. I don't know if this was a reaction to the flour, as I have cut all flour products off my diet. I have still been nibbling from the remains of the bread (too delicious to resist and partner made double quantity), with no apparent problems, but I have not eaten the same quantity I have on the first day. I think I need to properly test it once again by eating more of it.

Hi Gertrudes,
I'm about a week late on this, but I thought I should mention that your upset stomach may have been a reaction to the xylitol. When you first consume it, xylitol can cause gas and bloating because the body isn't used to it yet. From wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol: "As with most sugar alcohols, initial consumption can result in bloating, diarrhea, and flatulence, although generally rather less so than other sugar alcohols like sorbitol." I noticed some gurgling in my gut the first time I used it too (put it in my morning smoothie), but continued use has built up my tolerance. I don't have any reaction to it now.

FWIW...

I also found that I had a reaction to the xylitol the first time I used it, whereas now I use large amounts with no effects. I have a sweet tooth so I use it on cereal, in tea and TONS of it in the fabulous date bread!

 

[Lirpa]

Kind of off topic and you may already know this but Xylitol is deadly to pets even in small amounts. Just an fyi...

Did your dog die from Xylitol?

As far as i can see so far it's only poisonous to dogs not all pets.

Oops I meant dogs not pets in general. I am not sure what it does for other pets but if it kills dogs I probably would refrain from giving it any pet just to be sure...


My dog did not die from Xylitol.

I did find this bit on the potential that it may be toxic to cats?

_http://pharmacyinnovations.net/content/view/213/99/

It mentions that it is not currently known to be toxic to cats but presently must be assumed to be toxic to cats.