Xylitol Sweetener, Toxic to Dogs

[BaronsMa]

While reading about the pet food recall, I came across this article about a sweetener that is highly toxic to dogs.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...r_N.htm?csp=23

My Baron will steal anything sweet..but we usually have the real sugar stuff here.

[rabidfan]

more information I got from a mailing list I am on:

COMMON SWEETENER IN SUGAR-FREE PRODUCTS CAN BE FATAL TO DOGS

by Robert Jay Russell, Ph.D.,
CTCA President

Reuters News Agency carried a story dated 9/30/06 that the common artificial sweetener xylitol can be fatal to dogs:

"Keep those sugarless treats out of Fido's reach. Veterinarians warned on Friday that a commonly used sweetener might cause liver failure in dogs, and perhaps even kill them.

Researchers said for dogs, ingesting even a small amount of xylitol, found in many sugar-free foods, can trigger significant insulin release, which drops their blood sugar and can be fatal.

Their report in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association appears to strengthen the suspected link between the sugar substitute xylitol, thought to make dogs sick, and possible liver failure.

Xylitol, a naturally occurring product, is found in many sugar-free chewing gums, candies, baked goods and toothpastes.

Researchers Sharon Gwaltney-Brant and Eric Dunayer with staff at a poison unit of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Urbana, Illinois, gathered information on eight dogs treated between 2003 and 2005 after eating products containing xylitol.

Each dog became ill, and five died or had to be put down because of liver failure, possibly from ingesting xylitol."

Dr. Russell continues:


Xylitol has previously been known to sicken dogs, but it was not considered potentially lethal, perhaps because previous deaths of dogs were not linked to the ingestion of a common food ingredient in a wide variety of foodstuffs thought to be harmless to humans. Xylitol, usually extracted from birch bark, is produced in quantity in China and is a common ingredient of "all natural" health foods. It is indeed natural, but then so is hemlock.

Xylose, the sugar from which xylitol is made, is common in nature being found in the cell walls of plants (and in the human body). However, xylose requires specific enzymes that break it down and remove it from the body. Humans seem to have the proper enzymes, but dogs may lack them. As yet, no one knows the toxic mechanism for xylitol in canines.

If you have a dog or maybe even cat, it would be prudent to check the ingredient list of your foods (tooth paste and especially chewing gum) and to remove or substantially secure any product containing this sweetener for your house.

Do not allow your dog to investigate discarded chewing gum, since this product--which literally paves the streets of many American towns and cities--contains potentially large quantities of this artificial sweetener.

Note that xylitol-containing chewing gums are likely to skyrocket in popularity in just a few more years. The Wrigley Corporation took out a patent on chewing gum containing between 5 and 100 mg of sildenafil citrate. They are expected to market vast amounts of this product in 2013 when the patent for this compound expires. Sildenafil citrate is the active ingredient in Viagra.
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*Note 1: Reported by Dunayer, E. K. (2004) "Hypoglycemia
following canine ingestion of xylitol-containing gum,"
Vet Hum Toxicol 46:87-88. See also the ASPCA's poison control
information on line:
http://www.aspca. org/site/ PageServer? pagename= pro_apcc_ dyk#21
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*Note 2: hey, I cannot make this stuff up. Is America great or what?
Can you just picture the enormous increase in *****,
hypoglycemic rats that will be chewing gum off the sidewalks
of Main Street, USA? The Wrigley patent information is
from John Emsley's "Vanity, Vitality and Virility: The science
behind the products you love to buy," Oxford University
Press, NY, NY, 2004, p. 197.
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(c)2008 Dr. R. J. Russell & the CTCA