Xylitol, Chemical Information

Xylitol has been a known chemical substance since 1891, when it was first manufactured by a German chemist

Xylitol, as we mentioned in the General Information about Xylitol is a sugar alcohol. It's chemical formula is C5H12O5 and is produced by the hydrogenation of xylose to xylitol

Pure xylitol looks like sugar since it has a white crystaline appearance and tastes like sugar. However, it has 40% less calories than sugar. Only the one third of the absorbed xylitol gets metabolized in the body. The remaining two thirds are broken down by gut bacteria into short-chain fatty acids in the intestinal tract.

Some additional properties of xylitol include: