Xylose

Xylose is a monosaccharide of the aldopentose type consisted of five carbon atoms and an aldehyde functional group. Xylose is a sugar isolated from wood. D-Xylose is a sugar widely used as a diabetic sweetener in food and beverage. Xylose has also been used as a diagnostic agent to observe malabsorption. Reduction of xylose by catalytic hydrogenation produces the common food additive sweetener substitute xylitol Xylitol. The dextrorotary form of xylose, D-xylose, refers usually to the endogenously occurring form of the sugar in living things. The levorotary form, L-xylose, can refer to the form that is synthesized. Nevertheless, xylose by itself may not necessarily serve many purposes immediately - but its metabolism results in a variety of substrates that can serve important nutritional and biological purposes.

The predominant everyday nutritional usage of xylose is as a parent sugar alcohol from which another sugar alcohol - xylitol- can be derived from and used as an extremely common food additive or sweetener to be used in place of regular sugars as a lower calorie alternative . Alternatively, xylose was also involved in a procedure known as a D-xylose absorption test that used to be employed to evaluate how well an individual was capable of absorbing a simple sugar like D-xylose from the intestines . By measuring the amount of D-xylose in urine and blood samples after an individual ingested a certain amount of the simple sugar dissolved in some water, the test sought to determine if nutrients were being properly absorbed in the patient's gastrointestinal tract .

No associated conditions information available.