Arabitol
Encyclopedia
Arabitol or arabinitol is a sugar alcohol
. It can be formed by the reduction of either arabinose
or lyxose
. Some organic acid tests check for the presence of D-arabinitol, which may indicate overgrowth of intestinal parasites such as Candida albicans
or other yeast/fungus species.
Sugar alcohol
A sugar alcohol is a hydrogenated form of carbohydrate, whose carbonyl group has been reduced to a primary or secondary hydroxyl group . Sugar alcohols have the general formula Hn+1H, whereas sugars have HnHCO...
. It can be formed by the reduction of either arabinose
Arabinose
Arabinose is an aldopentose – a monosaccharide containing five carbon atoms, and including an aldehyde functional group.For biosynthetic reasons, most saccharides are almost always more abundant in nature as the "D"-form, or structurally analogous to D-glyceraldehyde.For sugars, the D/L...
or lyxose
Lyxose
Lyxose is an aldopentose — a monosaccharide containing five carbon atoms, and including an aldehyde functional group. It has chemical formula 5105.Lyxose occurs only rarely in nature, for example, as a component of bacterial glycolipids.- See also :...
. Some organic acid tests check for the presence of D-arabinitol, which may indicate overgrowth of intestinal parasites such as Candida albicans
Candida albicans
Candida albicans is a diploid fungus that grows both as yeast and filamentous cells and a causal agent of opportunistic oral and genital infections in humans. Systemic fungal infections including those by C...
or other yeast/fungus species.