This term is widely used in the glucose industry as a shorthand means of describing the carbohydrate composition of a syrup. DP describes the number of glucose units in an individual component of a syrup. Thus DP1 = dextrose (1 unit), DP2 = maltose (2 units), DP3 = maltotriose (3 units) and so on and was basically introduced as a convenient means of describing these components.
