Indigestible dextrin and sugar tolerance in rats and people
What it found
In rats and in five healthy men, taking indigestible dextrin alongside sugars lowered insulin release, and in rats it also lowered blood sugar after sucrose but not after glucose.
What they found
Studies in people
Sugar load in people
In five healthy men, taking indigestible dextrin with a Trelan-G75 load significantly reduced the rise in plasma insulin and in gut glucagon-like immunoreactivity. Blood sugar levels showed no significant difference between the two loads.
Animal and lab studies
Sucrase activity in lab tests
In rat intestinal mucosa, pectin and pullulan inhibited sucrase activity, but indigestible dextrin slightly increased it.
Sugar transport in lab tests
In everted rat intestinal sacs, indigestible dextrin did not change the transport of plain glucose, but it did inhibit the transport of glucose coming from sucrose.
Glucagon release in lab tests
Total glucagon released into the serosal medium after glucose or sucrose stimulation was reduced by indigestible dextrin.
Sugar load in rats
In rats, indigestible dextrin lowered the rise in plasma insulin after a glucose load with no change in glucose levels. After a sucrose load it lowered the rises in both plasma glucose and insulin.
What the authors conclude
“From these observations it would appear that the effectiveness of reducing insulin secretion by PF-C results due to the decrease in sugar absorption by inhibiting the disaccharidase-related transport system.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say the effectiveness of reducing insulin secretion by PF-C appears to come from a decrease in sugar absorption by inhibiting the disaccharidase-related transport system.
- They suggest the effect may be attributed to the action on the enteroinsular axis mechanism.
- They want to establish the conditions under which this sugar tolerance effect can be used effectively.
How it was done
The authors note that high viscosity water-soluble fibres such as pectin and guar gum lower blood sugar and insulin after a sugar load, but fibres differ in origin and properties, so their effects differ too. They wanted to test a low viscosity fibre made from potato starch.
They ran lab tests on rat intestinal tissue, then gave sugar loads with or without indigestible dextrin to male Sprague-Dawley rats and to five healthy men. The men took Trelan-G75 with or without 30 g of the dextrin, in a random order one week apart.
What it can’t tell you
- The human part involved only five healthy men, so it cannot show what happens in other groups or over longer periods.
- The rat and lab results cannot show what happens in people.
- The study measured insulin, glucose and gut hormones after single sugar loads, so it cannot show long-term effects.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Research Institute, Hyogo
The paper
- Title
- [The effects of indigestible dextrin on sugar tolerance: I. Studies on digestion-absorption and sugar tolerance]
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Wakabayashi S (1992). [The effects of indigestible dextrin on sugar tolerance: I. Studies on digestion-absorption and sugar tolerance]. Nihon Naibunpi Gakkai zasshi. doi:10.1507/endocrine1927.68.6_623Free full textPubMed 1321740DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error