• A crystalline sugar alcohol used as a sweetening agent.
  Harvard Dictionary of Health Terms
  Harvard Medical Publishing, 2011
• A polyhydric alcohol with about half the sweetness of sucrose. Sorbitol occurs naturally and is also produced synthetically from glucose. It was formerly used as a diuretic and may still be used as a laxative and in irrigating solutions for some surgical procedures. It is also used in many manufacturing processes, as a pharmaceutical aid, and in several research applications.
  NLM Medical Subject Headings
  U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025
• A sugar alcohol found in fruits and plants with diuretic, laxative and cathartic property. Unabsorbed sorbitol retains water in the large intestine through osmotic pressure thereby stimulating peristalsis of the intestine and exerting its diuretic, laxative and cathartic effect. In addition, sorbitol has one-third fewer calories and 60 % the sweetening activity of sucrose and is used as a sugar replacement in diabetes.
  NCI
  U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
• Six-carbon sugar alcohol with about half the sweetness of sucrose; occurs naturally and is also produced synthetically from glucose.
  CRISP Thesaurus
  National Institutes of Health, 2006