Used in the food industry as a stabilizer and emulsifier, particularly in dairy products and baked goods, to improve texture and shelf life. It is also employed in cosmetics and personal care products for its moisturizing and skin-conditioning properties. In pharmaceuticals, it serves as an excipient in tablet formulations to enhance stability and dissolution. Additionally, it is utilized in chemical synthesis as a chiral building block for producing complex organic molecules. Its ability to act as a chelating agent makes it useful in water treatment processes to control metal ion concentrations.