I’ve been buying Jenkki “professional” for years, because it says “100% xylitol” on the bag, which implies (to me and everyone I’ve asked) that there are no other sweeteners. Then I looked closely at the bag: hmm, what is E950 “flavor enhancer”. It’s Ace K, one of the most potent sweeteners known to humans—200 times sweeter than sugar. Shouldn’t this be a scandal? Are there other gums available that are pure xylitol?

by ThisInfiniteNow

13 comments

  1. Thanks for letting me know, won’t be buying it anymore. I usually get Pirkka 100% xylitol and I hope they’re not pulling something similar, I don’t have it right now to check

  2. That’s actually very interesting! Hope this gets more upvotes!

  4. They probably need to put some more of that shit, the taste of jenkki lasts for exactly 23 seconds.

  5. Misleading sure, but legal. Just a marketing gimmick. Acesulfame K isn’t a sugar alcohol, whereas xylitol is.

  6. You see Jenkki is not Finnish anymore, i believe its Dutch.

  7. The wording is definitely confusing, but here’s what’s going on. When the package says “100% xylitol”, it doesn’t mean the whole gum is made of xylitol, nor that there are no other additives. What it actually means is that xylitol is the only bulk sweetener used. Other sugar alcohols like sorbitol, mannitol or maltitol aren’t used at all, the sweetening is based entirely on xylitol. In the ingredients list, it says “xylitol 63% of total weight”. That’s the actual share of xylitol in the gum by weight. The rest is gum base, stabilizers, flavorings, and so on. About E950 (acesulfame K): it’s listed as a “flavor enhancer.” Technically it is a high-intensity sweetener, but in this case it’s present only in tiny amounts to boost the taste, not as a primary sweetener. That’s why the company can still claim the gum is “100% xylitol sweetened.”

    So, it’s not really a “scam” in the legal sense, the claim refers specifically to the type of sweetener (xylitol being the sole bulk sweetener), not to the entire product composition. But yes, the marketing language can be misleading, since many people understandably read it as “this gum contains only xylitol.”

  8. the wording is clear 67% of **total weight**. what the 100% xylitiol means is 100% of the **sweetener** is xylitol. **sweeteners** (aka the singular kind, xylitol) makes 67% of overall gums weight. Since it must have other ingredients like emulsifiers, gum base mass etc. otherwise you would just have pile of xylitol sugar, which as other sugars is as pure just [a crystalline solid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol) …. … not very chevy and so on.

  10. Jenkki is already a scam as a brand, so this should not surprise anyone.

  11. Get Fazer gum, the one meant for kids, the list of shit in the gum gets a lot shorter.

  12. Dental hygienist here. I only buy Xylimax pastilles, they are targeted for children but they contain more xylitol than other products. Also pastilles are less likely to cause TMJ problems.

  13. I think the whole xylitol is a scam. There’s no huge fuzz about it’s benefits in any other country except Finland. It’s true that it’s much better for teeth than sugar, but I don’t believe the claims that it actually actively prevents tooth decay more than let’s say sorbitol which is chemically almost identical to xylitol. Chewing gum does stimulate the production of saliva, which is beneficial for the teeth. But I don’t believe in the almost mythical qualities of xylitol that are advertised in Finland.

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