rare sugar
A scientific term for monosaccharides and their derivatives that exist in nature in very small quantities. Used in food science and health contexts.
Rare sugars are a general term for sugars that exist in nature only in very small amounts.
In this study, we investigated the bioactivity of D-psicose, a type of rare sugar.
糖 is the general term for sugar, while 希少糖 specifically refers to rare sugars found in trace amounts in nature.
単糖 (monosaccharide) is a broader category; 希少糖 are a subset of monosaccharides that are rare in nature.
Standard kanji spelling using 希 (rare) + 少 (few) + 糖 (sugar).
Variant spelling using 稀 (rare) instead of 希; both are used, but 希少糖 is more common in scientific contexts.
Compound of 希少 (rare, scarce) and 糖 (sugar). The term was coined in the field of glycobiology to describe sugars that occur in very limited quantities in nature.