14 Facts About Lactic acid

Lactic acid is an alpha-hydroxy acid due to the presence of a hydroxyl group adjacent to the carboxyl group.

Lactic acid produced by fermentation of milk is often racemic, although certain species of bacteria produce solely -lactic acid.

Lactic acid is produced industrially by bacterial fermentation of carbohydrates, or by chemical synthesis from acetaldehyde.

Production of racemic lactic acid consisting of a 1:1 mixture of and stereoisomers, or of mixtures with up to 99.

Racemic lactic acid is synthesized industrially by reacting acetaldehyde with hydrogen cyanide and hydrolysing the resultant lactonitrile.

Lactic acid is employed in pharmaceutical technology to produce water-soluble lactates from otherwise-insoluble active ingredients.

Lactic acid containing bacteria have shown promise in reducing Oxaluria with its descaling properties on calcium compounds.

Lactic acid is found primarily in sour milk products, such as kumis, laban, yogurt, kefir, and some cottage cheeses.

Lactic acid is responsible for the sour flavor of sourdough bread.

In lists of nutritional information lactic acid might be included under the term "carbohydrate" because this often includes everything other than water, protein, fat, ash, and ethanol.

Lactic acid is used as a food preservative, curing agent, and flavoring agent.

Lactic acid is produced commercially by fermentation of carbohydrates such as glucose, sucrose, or lactose, or by chemical synthesis.

Lactic acid has historically been used to assist with the erasure of inks from official papers to be modified during forgery.

Lactic acid is used in some liquid cleaners as a descaling agent for removing hard water deposits such as calcium carbonate, forming the lactate, calcium lactate.