Some brands of gum are compatible with the keto diet, but be careful, not all are. If you find yourself lost without chewing gum, don't worry! There are several brands of gums compatible with a ketogenic diet:
Is Chewing Gum Keto?
PURE gum
Spry
Pepper shaker
What all these chewing gums have in common is their main sweetener, xylitol, a sugar alcohol compatible with a keto diet that doesn't count toward your daily carb limit. As a beneficial side effect to be aware of, some studies have shown that chewing xylitol-based gum after meals can improve dental health:
Chewing gum accelerates acid rinsing processes and absorption of beneficial calcium phosphate molecules to remineralize tooth enamel. The recommended time to chew gum after eating is about 20 minutes. Consumption of xylitol gum for more than 3 weeks leads to a short- and long-term reduction of salivary flora and plaque.
'The effect of xylitol on dental caries and oral flora'
Unfortunately, other brands of gum are not as beneficial. Keep chewing gum that contains sugar, as it is a resounding no-no on a keto diet. Also avoid brands that contain maltitol, a non-keto sweetener. Apart from xylitol-based brands, most sugar-free gummies contain less desirable sweeteners such as aspartame and sorbitol, which aren't bad at all, but they're not ideal if you can choose a more optimal gum for your keto diet.
Does Keto Xylitol?
Xylitol is totally keto and does not count toward your daily carbohydrate limits.
This means that if in the total number of carbohydrates in the food can be for example 12 g there is 7 g of xylitol, in the actual number of total carbohydrates it is 5 g.
Xylitol is a popular sugar substitute as a low-carb version and at a level of sweetness, it is equivalent to sugar, so it is very easy to use as a substitute because it respects the 1:1 ratio. Just keep in mind, if you're going to use it for desserts, xylitol absorbs moisture faster than sugar and doesn't interact with yeast.
If you are wondering in what foods you can find xylitol, it is very common, for example, in chewing gum. Especially since it seems to be very helpful when it comes to improving dental health.
The only downside of xylitol is that there are people to whom it generates unpleasant side effects like gas or irritable bowel syndrome. Although this is quite common in some people with some intolerance to sugar alcohols.
Keto Maltitol
Maltitol is a sugar alcohol. This appears a lot in several products which indicate in their advertising campaigns that they are without added sugars. But this is not true.
The glycemic index of maltitol is 36, which means it will raise your blood sugar levels a lot. If we compare it to table sugar, which has a glycemic index of 65, we see that maltitol is not much better than regular sugar.
Therefore, it is worth avoiding products that contain maltitol as much as possible. Avoid them even if the label says low in carb volume because their high glycemic index can easily knock you out of ketosis.