Dietary d-Psicose Reduced Visceral Fat Mass in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Rats

D-Psicose, a C-3 epimer of d-fructose, has shown promise in reducing body fat accumulation in normal rats and plasma glucose level in genetic diabetic mice. Effects of d-psicose on diet-induced obesity are not clearly elucidated, and we investigated food intake, body weight, and fat accumulation in rats fed high-fat (HF) diet. Sprague-Dawley rats became obese by feeding HF diet for 4 wk, and were assigned either to normal or HF diet supplemented with or without d-psicose, sucrose, or erythritol for 8 wk. Changing HF to normal diet gained less body weight and adipose tissue due to different energy intake. d-psicose-fed rats exhibited lower weight gain, food efficiency ratio, and fat accumulation than erythritol- and sucrose-fed rats. This effect was more prominent in d-psicose-fed rats with normal diet than with HF diet, suggesting combination of psicose and calorie restriction further reduced obesity. There was no difference in serum cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-C and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-C/HDL-C ratios between d-psicose group and other groups. Liver weight in 5% psicose group with normal diet was higher than in other groups, but histopathological examination did not reveal any psicose-related change. d-Psicose inhibited the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) to adipose tissue in a concentration-dependent manner. These results demonstrate that d-psicose produces a marked decrease, greater than erythritol, in weight gain and visceral fat in an established obesity model by inhibiting MSC differentiation to adipocyte. Thus, d-psicose can be useful in preventing and reducing obesity as a sugar substitute and food ingredient.