Although xylitol contains less calories than other sweet foods, it is still a kind of sugar. Xylitol is a sweet substance with nutritional value and a normal intermediate of carbohydrate metabolism in human body. Even if a healthy person does not eat any food containing xylitol, his blood contains 0.03-0.06 mg/100 mg of xylitol. In nature, xylitol exists widely in all kinds of fruits and vegetables, but its content is very low. Commercial xylitol is made from corn cob, bagasse and other crops through deep processing. It is a natural and healthy sweetener.

Xylitol is white crystal, and its appearance is similar to sucrose. It is the sweetest sweetener among polyols, with cool taste, sweetness equivalent to sucrose and calorie equivalent to glucose. It is a future sweetener and a substitute for sucrose and glucose. Xylitol looks and tastes like sucrose. From the food level, xylitol can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense. Carbohydrates in a broad sense and polyols in a narrow sense. Because xylitol can only be slowly absorbed or partially utilized. Low calorie is one of its major characteristics: 2.4 calories per gram, 40% less than other carbohydrates.