Where I live, xylitol has been a staple for decades and decades. It’s good for mouth hygiene, too. A correlation like in the article would probably show as a perceivable difference in overall strokes of our country’s populace as a whole, comparing to others, if it really was a thing that mattered. Might be, haven’t checked, but pretty sure we aren’t any more prone for that than any others. And here we eat xylitol from child up, usually several a day, after meals as gum (not the sugary candy-like gum, but the one intended to stop the acid attack) or pastilles. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t honestly. I don’t even know if you can get sugar gum anywhere, it’s so ubiquitous to xylitol and mouth hygiene.

So I mean, be suspicious, sure, but I’m pretty sure it’s highly tested and kept tracked here, because it’s a daily thing for everyone basically.