How to Make Xylitol Nasal Flush at Home

Given the unusually large reader response to my last blog regarding xylitol nasal rinses regarding the "recipe," I thought it easier to write a blog about it!!!

To be brief, xylitol is a naturally-occurring plant-based sugar substitute that apparently has all sorts of anti-bacterial as well as anti-fungal properties. Given these properties, daily xylitol gum chewingor xylitol nasal sprayuse has been shown to help prevent recurrent acute ear infections and sinus infections... safe for use even in infants.

When used as part of nasal flushes to the nose, it seems to work even better than traditional saline flushes to the nose (read more about this here).

So, I have provided below a few different recipes to make xylitol nasal flushes at home. One may be more comfortable than the other, but it is user dependent. Obviously, convenience will play a role as well.

Just as an FYI, you can also purchase pre-packaged packetsthat contain xylitol for the ultimate convenience. Just open one packet and mix it in with water inside your nasal flush kit of choice (Nasopure, Neti Pot, Neilmed, etc)

Recipe #1 (Complex):
1 cup of water (8 ounces)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of xylitol crystals
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 drops of grapefruit seed extract

Recipe #2:

1 cup of water (8 ounces)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp of xylitol crystals

Recipe #3:

1 cup of water (8 ounces)

1/2 - 1 tsp of xylitol crystals

Xylitol Nasal Flushes Helps Prevent Chronic Sinusitis

Over the years, there has been much about how beneficial a safe food additive called xylitolis in preventing infections. This naturally-occurring plant-based sugar substitute apparently has all sorts of anti-bacterial as well as anti-fungal properties. Given these properties, daily xylitol gum chewingor xylitol nasal sprayuse has been shown to help prevent recurrent acute ear infections and sinus infections... safe for use even in infants.

How may this occur? Toronto researchers figured out that xylitol inhibits the adherence of germs (burkholderia in the study) to airway linings thereby helping to prevent recurrent infections.

Another beneficial practice found to be helpful in preventing sinus infections are saline flushes to the nose. For those who don't realize the difference, saline flushes are different from saline nasal sprays in the volume of irrigation performed (think garden hose versus squirt bottle). Nasopurenasal flushes is being shown in the picture above (there are many different stylesbut all basically do the same thing).

Now what if we combine saline flushes with xylitol for those who suffer from particularly difficult chronic sinus infections???

Stanford University researchers conducted a small study (20 subjects) to see whether xylitol flushes (rather than nasal spray) to nose works even better than plain saline flushes to the nose. In spite of its small size, it was a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, controlled crossover pilot study.

What they found, at least in the short term, is that xylitol nasal irrigations resulted in greater improvement of chronic rhinosinusitis symptoms as compared to saline irrigations.


Reference:
Xylitol nasal irrigation in the management of chronic rhinosinusitis: A pilot study. The Laryngoscope Volume 121, Issue 11, pages 2468–2472, November 2011

A novel model to study bacterial adherence to the transplanted airway: inhibition of Burkholderia cepacia adherence to human airway by dextran and xylitol. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2004 Dec;23(12):1382-91.

A Story About a Sugar: The X-Factor. Blog by Dr. Faust

Xylitol as a prophylaxis for acute otitis media: systematic review. Int J Audiol. 2010 Oct;49(10):754-61.

A novel use of xylitol sugar in preventing acute otitis media. Pediatrics. 1998 Oct;102(4 Pt 1):879-84.

Xylitol chewing gum in prevention of acute otitis media: double blind randomised trial. BMJ. 1996 Nov 9;313(7066):1180-4.

Failure of xylitol given three times a day for preventing acute otitis media. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2007 May;26(5):423-7.

Xylitol administered only during respiratory infections failed to prevent acute otitis media. Pediatrics. 2002 Feb;109(2):E19.

New NeilMed Sinus Rinse Video

The NeilMed company has produced a sinus rinse video on YouTube. All I can say is it is about time! Our office had to produce a video on this product given the absence previously.



There are also devices that make it easier to rinse your nose and sinuses: