Milk Sweetened with Xylitol: A Proof-of-Principle Caries Prevention Randomized Clinical Trial

To evaluate the efficacy of xylitol-sweetened milk as a caries-preventive strategy.

In this nine-month prospective proof-of-principle trial, Peruvian schoolchildren were randomized to one of five different milk groups: (1) eight g of xylitol per 200 mL milk once per day; (2) four g of xylitol per 100 mL milk twice per day; (3) eight g of sorbitol per 200 mL milk once per day; (4) four g of sorbitol per 100 mL milk twice per day; or (5) eight g of sucrose per 200 mL milk once per day. The primary outcome was plaque mutans streptococci (MS) at nine months. A secondary outcome was caries incidence. We hypothesized that children in the xylitol groups would have a greater MS decline and lower caries incidence.

One hundred fifty-three children were randomized in the intent-to-treat analyses. Children receiving xylitol had a greater decline in MS than children receiving sucrose (P=0.02) but were not different from children receiving sorbitol (P=0.07). Dental caries incidence for xylitol once per day or twice per day was 5.3±3.4 and 4.3±4.0 surfaces, respectively, compared to sorbitol once per day, sorbitol twice per day, or sucrose (4.1±2.8, 3.7±4.2, and 3.2±3.4 surfaces, respectively). There were no differences in caries incidence between xylitol and sucrose (rate ratio [RR] = 1.51; 95 percent confidence interval [CI] = 0.88, 2.59; P=0.13) or between xylitol and sorbitol (RR = 1.28; 95 percent CI = 0.90, 1.83; P=0.16).

Xylitol-sweetened milk significantly reduced mutans streptococci levels compared to sucrose-sweetened milk, but differences in caries incidence were not detected.