l-xylose

Xylose is sugar isolated from wood. It is an aldopentose – a monosaccharide containing five carbon atoms and an aldehyde functional group. Xylose has the same sweet flavor as glucose and is 40% as sweet as sucrose. It is easily dissolved in water. It can improve the flavor of normal sweet foods and can inhibit odors. D-Xylose is accepted by FDA as a safe food ingredient (GRAS). In the EU, xylose is also graded as a food ingredient. It is used in the food production as sweetener, nutrition supplements. As xylose is a non-caloric sweetener, it is used as a diabetic sweetener in low-sugar foods and condiment to enhance flavor and as nutrition supplements to improve nutrition value and sweetness. It is used in beverage industry to enhance flavor in low-sugar drink. It is used as intermediate in pharmaceutical for medicine manufacturing. It is used in animal medicine to test for malabsorption. It is used in hydrogen production, in cosmetics as humectant, in chemicals to produce a specialty solvent (e.g. ethylene glycol) for industry and a precursor to synthetic polymers, in human consumption, and in the production of anti-cariogenic sugar substitute xylitol.
ChEBI: 2,3,4,5-tetrahydroxypentanal is a pentose, a polyol and a hydroxyaldehyde.