Chewing xylitol gum may be able to prevent preterm birth.
A three-year study of more than 10,000 pregnant women in Malawi, a country in southeastern Africa, found that pregnant women who chewed sugar-free, xylitol-sweetened gum had a 24 percent reduction in the incidence of preterm birth compared to women who did not.
Xylitol is a sugar-free sweetener derived from xylose, which can be extracted from birch trees and corn cobs. Preterm birth occurs when a baby is born before 37 weeks of pregnancy.
“It surprised us all that such a simple intervention could have such a dramatic effect,” Dr. Greg Valentine, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and lead study author, said in a press statement….