Abstract
The safety of the rare sugar, D-psicose, when fed to rats over a long period (6-18 months) has been reported. However, as D-psicose may be ingested daily as a sweetener, it is necessary to examine its long-term safety. In this study, we investigated the effect of life-long intake of dietary D-psicose on the life span of rats fed a high-fat diet. Sixty-one male Wistar rats were divided into three groups; a high-carbohydrate diet (HC) group, a high-fat diet (HF) group, and a high-fat-3% D-psicose diet (HFP) group. These diets were fed to the rats (n = 20-21) from 4 weeks of age until death. Body weight at 30 months was higher in the HF and HFP groups than in the HC group, but there were no significant differences in serum biochemical test results between the groups. Although average survival time was lower in the HC group than in the HF and HFP groups, the difference was not significant. These results suggest that the life span of Wistar rats is not affected by a small amount of D-psicose in their diet.
