Before I get into the details here, I want to remind everyone that all of my product reviews and recommendations are unsolicited and unpaid. This is not an advertisement or an infomercial. I only review products that I personally use and would recommend to my friends and family. In fact, I've recommend Spry gum to a great number of people and every one of them has thanked me for that recommendation because they've enjoyed this gum so much.
So what's so good about Spry gum? It's made with xylitol. Xylitol is a form of sugar that has a very low glycemic index. It's actually a sugar alcohol that's found naturally in trees and tree pulp. Xylitol tastes sweet, just like sugar, but it doesn't have the glycemic impact of sugar and at the same time it actually prevents cavities rather than promoting them (like typical refined white sugar would).
As the primary sweetener in Spry gum, xylitol works to prevent cavities as you chew it. By chewing xylitol, you not only get the taste pleasure from chewing great-tasting gum, you also get the health benefit of reducing the number of cavities you are likely to experience. Spry gum is also made with other natural ingredients such as soy lecithin and beeswax. Although some of the available flavors for this product (such as strawberry) do contain artificial flavors, the flavors I recommend (cinnamon and spearmint) contain only naturally-occurring oils and flavors.
I've tried all the available flavors of Spry gum, and I like cinnamon the best. It has long-lasting flavor and is delicious. Studies have also shown that cinnamon helps reduce cavities in the mouth and can even assist in the stabilization of blood sugar. With that said, there's probably not a whole lot of cinnamon in the gum, so I wouldn't consider it to be a medicinal dose of cinnamon oil.
The next best flavor is spearmint. After that, my third choice is peppermint and finally strawberry flavor. The strawberry-flavored and the fruit-favored versions of Spry gum suffer from a lack of flavor longevity. The flavor simply fades away in record time, leaving you chewing a flavorless gum base. So stick with the cinnamon and spearmint if you want long-lasting flavor.
You can purchase Spry gum at www.sprydental.com or any local health food store. It's also available online from a large number of retailers. The company that makes Spry dental is Xlear, which also makes other xylitol-based products such as a nasal wash that helps clear chronic sinus congestion by relying on the antibacterial properties of xylitol. (It's an excellent product for reducing ear infections in infants as well.)
The only drawback to Spry gum -- or any gum made with xylitol -- is that the gum is more expensive than other gums. That's because xylitol is a relatively expensive ingredient to extract from tree pulp. Products made with xylitol are simply going to cost you more money. In contrast, it's inexpensive for manufacturers to put high-fructose corn syrup in gum products. It's also inexpensive to use chemical sweeteners like NutraSweet. But if you want a gum product that's going to protect your health and prevent dental cavities, the way to go is to buy a gum based on xylitol. And from my research, Spry is the number one choice out there.
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