We have heard from a number of customers who have switched to EcoFam out of a desire to swap out their traditional toothpaste with more natural toothpaste tablets. When we talk about being 'natural', we are referring to ingredient choices. We make a point of ensuring that none of our products contain harsh chemicals.
Unfortunately, some of the ingredients we use have names that don't really sound natural. Take sorbitol. It is included in our toothpaste tablets. It is completely natural and fills a number of important roles that allow us to bring our toothpaste tablets to you.
More About Sorbitol
From a chemistry standpoint, sorbitol is actually a sugar alcohol and a hexahydric alcohol. That second part means that it is highly water soluble. But that makes sorbitol an ideal ingredient for retaining moisture. More on that in a minute.
First, you might be interested to know that sorbitol occurs naturally in many fruits. If you are a fan of apples, pears, peaches and most kinds of berries, you are tasting sorbitol when the sweetness of those fruits reaches your tongue.
Sorbitol is less sweet than table sugar at about 50-65%. It comes to us in powder form, a form that makes it easy to add when manufacturing our toothpaste tablets.
What It Does for Our Tablets
All that introductory information leads us to why we add sorbitol to our toothpaste tablets. What does it actually do for the product? It does a number of things:
1. Retains Moisture
Sorbitol acts as a humectant in toothpaste tablets. That means it retains moisture. Without a humectant, our toothpaste tablets would dry out and crumble. Sorbitol prevents that from happening. It ensures that every time you open an EcoFam package, you are getting smooth, easy to chew, and easily dissolved tablets.
2. It Adds Sweetness
Next, sorbitol adds a mildly sweet taste to our toothpaste tablets. A bit of sweetness makes the tablets easier for both adults and kids to use. Better yet, sorbitol does not contribute to tooth decay. That's because bacteria cannot metabolize sorbitol into the acids that cause cavities. So it is a better sweetener for toothpaste tablets than sugar.
3. It Helps Relieve Dry Mouth
People who experience dry mouth benefit from oral care products containing sorbitol. Remember, sorbitol is a humectant. It can draw in water and help the mouth retain it. This makes for more comfortable brushing for consumers who have a tendency toward mouth dryness.
4. It Helps Maintain Stability
Sorbitol also helps us maintain product stability. Even under varying conditions, sorbitol does not encourage or participate in browning reactions. So our toothpaste tablets remain stable for longer. And just so you know, sorbitol has a long history of safety when used in oral care products.
We Could Choose Alternatives
There are other ingredients we could use instead of sorbitol. We have alternatives. But sorbitol closely aligns with our goals for creating sustainable oral care products that also don't contain harsh chemicals. We want to help you keep your teeth clean. We do not want to harm you in any way, shape, or form.
So now you know why we include sorbitol as an ingredient in our toothpaste tablets. Despite the wonky sounding name, sorbitol is a naturally occurring substance you already interact with if you're a fruit lover.
It's a terrific addition to our toothpaste tablets because it retains moisture, adds a bit of sweetness, makes our toothpaste tablets more stable, and doesn't promote tooth decay. Sorbitol is a perfect fit for the EcoFam brand and oral care philosophy.
