Rhonda Patrick Raves About the Benefits of Xylitol Gum

Have I told you my xylitol story? I wanted to tell you this. Xylitol. Do you chew gum? I know you do. I remember after show, you chew gum, right? Sure. Do you use xylitol gum? I don't think so. Oh my God, you have to do it. Really? What is so good about xylitol? I'm going to tell you my story. Xylitol is like a sugar substitute, right? It's from the birch plant we were just talking about. It's naturally found in plants. It's that birch. You know what they're whipping? Yeah. It's from that plant. Yeah. Yes, it is used as a... If you're eating it, I think it could cause the erythitol kind of thing effect where it's too much G.I. distress. But when you're chewing gum or using toothpaste, many studies have shown that it kills anaerobic bacteria, like streptococcus mutans, that cause cavities and dental decay. Really? So here's my story. Multiple studies in humans showing this. It's a big deal. So I went to this before I had my son. I went to the dentist. My dentist is really great. And he did an x-ray. We were doing a cleaning, you know, mental hygiene thing. And he comes back and he's like, you've got two cavities. And I was like, how the hell do I have cavities? I don't even need sugar. Like, you know, I've just got like a bad oral microbiome or something that I've just for years. I don't know. I shouldn't have cavities because I don't need sugar. But anyways, I had... So he goes, you have two cavities. They're at the point of no return where, you know, I guess they penetrate the enamel a certain amount and they're like, you have to get them out. And so the way I am is I always like to look into everything before I do anything. It's like, okay, this is not my field. I understand. I told him, I'm like, I'm gonna do some reading research and see if I can find, you know, if there's any possibility that I don't have to get a filling. And he's like, okay, well, if you find anything, please send it my way. So then I found out I was pregnant. So I was like, okay, well, I can't go back to the dentist. And at that point, I was like looking through everything, all my toiletries and everything. I'm like, what do I have to get rid of? What's in there that could be harmful? And so I was like fluoride, like in my toothpaste. So I was like, I don't wanna use fluoride toothpaste anymore. And these stories are gonna connect. So fluoride has been shown. A lot of people are worried about the effects on the brain. The only solid evidence I could find on negative effects of fluoride on the brain are in utero, meaning pregnant women, you know, and the effects on babies. And I don't know if toothpaste has enough to even do anything, but in my mind, I was like, nope, getting rid of the fluoride. You know, I got a water filter that got rid of the fluoride in the water and I was like doing all that. So I came across this xylitol toothpaste. And I was like, what is this xylitol toothpaste? So I started doing research on xylitol while I was looking for alternatives. So I was like, Tom's a man, I can't use that crap. I've tried it before. It's like my teeth get dirtier. I hate that stuff. It tastes so terrible. It makes your breath smell worse. It does. Anyway, so I was like, I've got to find something other than Tom's a man. So I came across this xylitol stuff and I started doing research and then I found all these studies. And not only did I find studies that like, it basically kills these bacteria that cause cavities, the S mutants, pregnant women that chew xylitol gum. By the way, the studies were with gum, not the toothpaste. People were chewing this gum. And pregnant women, like if they were like six months pregnant, the studies started at six months and they chewed this xylitol gum all the way up until anywhere between the child, the baby being six months and there were some studies that went out like a year. And then the researchers measured the oral bacteria of the toddlers and then they measured it multiple years out as they became children. And the mothers chewing it, chewing the gum, it lowered the incidence of the S mutants in the children because mothers kiss their kids and they transfer oral bacteria. And so they're chewing the xylitol gum had a positive effect on the child's oral microbiome. And I was like, fuck yeah, I'm gonna do this. I gave myself TMJ. I chewed so much xylitol gum while I was pregnant. And I still, to this day I chew it. I have some with me right now. TMJ is what? Am I saying the right thing? Like, it was like popping my jaw. I was eating a lot of sauteed kale and chewing a lot of xylitol gum when I was pregnant. And so, but it totally fixed itself, thankfully. So anyways, a year goes by, I have my son, eventually I'm like, okay, I gotta go back to the dentist because pregnancy makes your teeth worse. There's all this stuff about you bleeding your gums bleed. There's some kind of term where women get, like what's that, periodontitis or gingivitis, one of those two, it's bad. Anyways, so I go back to the dentist, we do the x-rays and I'm like, oh, you're gonna tell me about the stupid cavities and I haven't done the research. You know, and he goes, he comes in and he goes, I've never seen this before, but your cavities are gone. And he shows the x-rays and he shows me before and after. He's like, they're totally gone. And I was like, that's amazing. I was like, is it the pregnancy? And he's like, no, he's like, we get women coming in here after, and it's like worse. And I said, the only thing that I could think of is like my obsessive xylitol gum chewing, which I still do. And the fact that it does decrease the, I don't know how it would affect an already formed cavity, but my cavities are gone. So my doctor, see, my dentist is great because he like, any dentist could just be like, nope, they're still there. Like, I don't know what the x-ray's supposed to look like. You know? So I feel like he's a trustworthy guy and I like that. Isn't that crazy? You have to worry about shifty dentists. Yeah, but you do. Anyway, right. So that is crazy. So the xylitol gum somehow, so you think that what it did was affect the microbiome of your mouth? Oh, and it's showed, there's also studies showing that it decreases the incidence of, I'm talking about Staphylococcus mutans, because it's the only one I remember, but there's another one that causes dental decay, but it didn't affect any of the good bacteria in the mouth. So I was like, and now I'm just like, it's all. Staphylococcus mutans, that's the same, is that the same family that you get from staph infections? No. No, different stuff? Yeah. Okay. But I mean, there's lots of different staphylococcus, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know? Oh, okay. So the xylitol gum, Joe, you need to get on it. It's really awesome. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.