As originally published by Dr. Dan Hebert in Duxbury Neighbors Magazine, 2024
Marketing products to humans can often lead to dangerous issues with pets whether the person doing the marketing is being shady or they’re just clueless. One of the latest is the re-naming of a common non-sugar sweetener to ‘birch sugar”. The sweetener’s actual name is xylitol and it has been around for decades. The reason veterinarians hate this re-naming is that xylitol has always been extremely toxic to dogs even in small amounts. It is found in chewing gum, sugar-free peanut butter, cough syrups, dietary supplements, mouthwashes, and other low-glycemic desserts like cookies, candies, and ice creams.
The sweetener 'Birch Sugar' is actually named Xylitol
The name “Birch Sugar” has some small truth to it, in that it is derived from birch tree fiber (and corn in some cases). The problem is that most consumers see the word sugar and think of the kind we get from sugar cane and maple trees… good ol’ sucrose. Birch-derived sugar is actually called a sugar alcohol. These are nothing new, but past sugar alcohols required more processing that allowed them to be labeled as “artificial sweeteners”. As companies have found new ways to extract these compounds from plants, that line has become blurred, and they can be simply labeled as all-natural or plant-based. Long story short, xylitol is still not sugar as we understand it.
Xylitol is obviously safe for people as an alternative sweetener. While it can cause some laxative effects like other sugar alternatives, it doesn’t stimulate release of insulin and all of the unhealthy, fattening effects that comes with this. In dogs, the opposite happens. Even a small amount of xylitol will stimulate a MASSIVE release of insulin. This causes the blood sugar to drop, effectively starving the body and its organs. When the brain is starved, the result is seizures and coma. In addition, it can also cause severe liver damage in certain dogs. The reason for this is still unknown.
Xylitol is safe for people but it is the opposite for dogs
When you know that your dog has eaten a product with xylitol, the veterinarian may or no may not induce vomiting depending on the timing. You should NOT do this yourself at home as a vomiting dog who begins seizing may inhale this vomit into their lungs. The next step is checking lab work to decide on treatment. If they are already showing signs of low blood sugar, they may need to be referred to a 24-hour hospital where they can be placed on an IV sugar drip until the poison is out of their system. If there is also liver damage, additional treatment may be required, and the prognosis becomes more guarded.
The government is still running into issues with how products like this are labeled. One popular, high-end ice cream company received a lot of negative backlash after their marketing pushed very hard about how their product is all-natural and plant-powered with no artificial sweeteners. Luckily, most of their website links for this shadiness now simply read “404 Page Not Found” and “birch sugar” is no longer mentioned anywhere on their packaging or website. Still, it’s a reminder to never give your dog (or cat…) anything not labeled for them without calling your vet first. It could save your pet’s life, or at the very least, an extremely large medical bill.