Occurrence and significance of polyols

Abstract

Not too many years ago authoritative text books in biochemistry indicated that xylitol does not occur in nature. As a result of increased interest in sugar alcohols and improved assay methods, it is now realized that xylitol is a ubiquitous carbohydrate. The present literature on the occurrence of xylitol in nature will most likely increase rapidly during the forthcoming years. Xylitol and certain other polyols are of vital importance to the life of numerous animal, plant and bacterial species. As a class, the polyols appear to be capable of functioning as nutritive substrates for a large variety of microorganisms. However, no single organism seems to be capable of utilizing every polyol. In the higher plants and particularly in the fruits, polyols appear to function as reserve carbohydrates, the quantities being seasonal and often becoming less as the other sugars increase during the ripening process.