Sinus, nasal allergies, tummy bugs etc:

Back in 2004 my hubby read an article about an artificial sugar called xylitol. Scientific community reactions to the claims of it's health benefits followed the usual path: 1. pooh-poohed as an old wives' tale, 2. well maybe there is some benefit to using it, but we don't know how it works 3. amazing new scientific discovery!

Xylitol is the active ingredient in cranberry juice which has been used by women for some time as a way of relieving urinary tract infection symptoms, hence the pooh-poohing by the scientific community. "If it makes you think it is working, and it has no negative side-effects, then there is no reason to stop using it, but it won't cure you."

xylitol

After reading the article, we went out and bought some from the health food shop. As it happened, there was a really bad tummy bug doing the rounds at work. It came on suddenly and people were sick for days. I was sitting at work and suddenly this wave of nausea hit me, out of the blue. I thought I was in for the whole experience, however, I took a teaspoonful of xylitol in some water, and the nausea subsided straight away. Every couple of hours the nausea came back and I hit it again with the xylitol. This went on for a day or so, but I managed to avoid the whole yucky experience.

Xylitol was used in experiments originally on children to see if the sugar substitute was better for their teeth than sugar. What the scientists found was that the side benefit for the children on xylitol was that they had significantly less ear infections than the other control subjects.

The especially interesting bit is that the xylitol bonds with the "bugs" which would normally bond with the cell walls of your nasal passages or your tummy, etc so most of the bugs get flushed out of your system without creating the havoc they were created to make.

Since reading the article, I have used an empty Sinex bottle which I fill with boiled water and about half a teaspoon of xylitol. If my sinuses are playing up, I use that instead of the steroid based over-the-counter medications.

I still have a scanned copy of the original article. There has been more research since then, including using it for cystic fibrosis patients. It's the best all round treatment I have found for tummy and nasal issues.