Abstract
Xylitol is a white crystalline, amorphous sugar alcohol and low-calorie sweetener. Xylitol prevents demineralization of teeth and bones, otitis media infection, respiratory tract infections, inflammation and cancer progression. NADPH generated in xylitol metabolism aid in the treatment of glucose-6-phosphate deficiency-associated hemolytic anemia. Moreover, it has a negligible effect on blood glucose and plasma insulin levels due to its unique metabolism. Its diverse applications in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food and polymer industries fueled its market growth and made it one of the top 12 bio-products. Recently, xylitol has also been used as a drug carrier due to its high permeability and non-toxic nature. However, it become a challenge to fulfil the rapidly increasing market demand of xylitol. Xylitol is present in fruit and vegetables, but at very low concentrations, which is not adequate to satisfy the consumer demand. With the passage of time, other methods including chemical catalysis, microbial and enzymatic biotransformation, have also been developed for its large-scale production. Nevertheless, large scale production still suffers from high cost of production. In this review, we summarize some alternative approaches and recent advancements that significantly improve the yield and lower the cost of production.
Highlights
Xylitol (1,2,3,4,5-pentol), a natural five-carbon sugar alcohol, is among the most valuable microbial products commonly used as a sweetening agent
(60–80 mg/mL) inhibited the growth of the Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC) up to 65%, which is quite crucial for a successful lung transplant [111]
Antiviral activity of xylitol was examined by Yin et al, who studied the effect of xylitol and red ginseng extract on mice infected with H1N1 [112]
Summary
Xylitol (1,2,3,4,5-pentol), a natural five-carbon sugar alcohol, is among the most valuable microbial products commonly used as a sweetening agent. The application of xylitol varied widely from food, nutraceuticals, beverage to pharma industries, making it one of the top 12 global bio-products [1,2] with a rapidly growing market share, which is expected to cross USD 1.14 billion by 2023. Almost 70% of the market share globally accounts for the manufacturing of chewing gums and confectionery products (Table 1) [4]. It has been claimed by the European Food Safety Agency that xylitol chewing gum reduces the risk of caries in children [5]. We aim to review the development of production methods with time including chemical as well as biological routes together with its application in pharmaceutical industry for the treatment/prevention of various diseases.
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