Xylitol

Xylitol is a five-carbon sugar alcohol found in small amounts in plants and animals and used as a low-calorie sweetener. It tastes sweet while providing fewer calories than sucrose.

Sugar alcohol: A carbohydrate-derived compound that contains multiple hydroxyl groups and is not fully metabolized like ordinary sugars. Xylitol belongs to this sweetener family, whose members vary in sweetness and digestive effects.
Pentose phosphate pathway: A metabolic pathway that produces NADPH and pentose sugars from glucose-6-phosphate. Xylitol metabolism intersects with pentose metabolism through conversion to xylulose and phosphorylation.
Sucrose: A disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose, commonly known as table sugar. Sucrose supplies more calories and is fermentable by many oral bacteria, unlike xylitol.
Hermann Emil Fischer: A German chemist whose research established key structures and reactions of sugars and other biomolecules. Fischer's foundational carbohydrate chemistry helped establish the structural understanding of xylitol.
Dental caries prevention: Measures intended to reduce the formation or progression of cavities in teeth. Xylitol is studied and used as one component of strategies to reduce caries risk.
Chewing gum: A chewable product made from an insoluble gum base, sweeteners, flavorings, and other ingredients. Xylitol is often used to sweeten sugar-free gum without feeding cavity-causing bacteria as readily as sucrose.
Xylitol dehydrogenase: An enzyme that oxidizes xylitol to xylulose, using NAD⁺ or NADP⁺ as a cofactor. This enzyme catalyzes a key step in xylitol breakdown in organisms that possess it.
Sorbitol: A six-carbon sugar alcohol used as a sweetener and humectant in foods and medicines. Sorbitol is a close sweetener alternative, but differs from xylitol in structure and sweetness.
Birch wood: A hardwood from trees of the genus Betula, historically used as a source of xylan for xylitol production. Early industrial xylitol production used birch-derived hemicellulose as its feedstock.
Oral microbiome: The community of microorganisms living in the mouth and their interactions with the host. Xylitol can alter the growth and activity of some oral bacteria that contribute to dental caries.

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