Cleaning the nose tells how the body keeps the nose clean and how these commonly used medications block this cleaning. Blocking the cleaning leads to more pollution, both bacterial and allergenic. If we want to reduce the incidence of these problems we can stop using these drugs, but if we can learn from this expensive mistake we will try to help wash the nose. Xylitol , the active ingredient in this spray, is a natural substance. It is not a drug.
Most people recognize xylitol as the sugar substitute that prevents tooth decay.
This section tells what xylitol is and what it does for tooth decay and infections. Much of this section deals with the use of xylitol by the Finns and studies prompted by their experience, including why they think it works as well as it does. In this section, entitled glycobiology , I show some of the current research on how bacteria attach to cells in the body so that they can cause infection. Some sugars are known to be able to interfere with this binding. Mannose is able to prevent urinary infections because it prevents the adherence of several of the most common bacteria that cause these infections to cells in the genitourinary tract.