Isomaltulose and blood vessel function after a sugar drink
What it found
In overweight adults, a drink with isomaltulose kept blood vessel function steadier than one with sucrose in the hours after drinking it.
The difference was small and only clear at the two-hour mark.
What they found
Studies in people
Blood vessel function
Blood vessel function dipped after both drinks, but the dip was smaller with isomaltulose. At two hours, function was higher after isomaltulose than after sucrose.
Blood sugar and insulin
Blood sugar and insulin rose after both drinks. Blood sugar was higher after isomaltulose at all time points measured, and insulin was also higher except at one hour.
Insulin resistance
People with insulin resistance had a bigger drop in blood vessel function after sucrose than those without it. Isomaltulose appeared to soften that drop.
Blood sugar link
Higher blood sugar tended to go with lower blood vessel function at the start and at two hours, regardless of which drink was consumed. Insulin levels showed no such link.
What the authors conclude
“Our findings show that low-GI isomaltulose, compared to sucrose, led to a better preservation of the basal, pre-prandial, endothelial function in the postprandial phase.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that isomaltulose led to better preservation of blood vessel function after the drink compared with sucrose.
- They say that replacing sugar with isomaltulose may benefit heart health because of its more balanced and sustained blood sugar profile.
- They call for more research on the effects of continued isomaltulose consumption on blood vessel function.
How it was done
The authors note that high blood sugar after eating is linked to poorer blood vessel function, an early sign of heart disease. They wanted to see whether a low-glycemic-index sugar, isomaltulose, would blunt that effect compared with sucrose.
Eighty overweight, mildly hypertensive adults were randomly assigned to drink 50 g of either isomaltulose or sucrose on two separate days, with a 2 to 6 week gap between. Blood vessel function in the arm was measured by ultrasound before the drink and then hourly for three hours, with blood samples taken each time.
What it can’t tell you
- This was a single drink test in overweight adults, so it cannot show what happens with long-term use.
- The study cannot prove that isomaltulose prevents heart disease, only that it affected a marker of blood vessel function in the hours after a drink.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by BENEO GmbH / Südzucker Group (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- E.d.G. has honorary consultancies with Atlantia Food CRO, COLSWE environmental sensors, AiREAS corporation and Municipality of Eindhoven, and the Departments of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, and Gastroenterolog, of the Amsterdam UMC—Academic Medical Centre. E.d.G. receives writing fees from Up-to-Date in Cardiology (Wolters Kluwer). E.d.G. is owner and employee of Imagelabonline & Cardiovascular. Imagelabonline served as a subcontractor for Atlantia Food CRO, Cork, Ireland in the present study. E.d.G. also received research grants from the AMC Research Foundation, Academic Medical Center—Amsterdam UMC, Bioactor BV, Pfizer, LSP-Quartz, and the Municipality of Eindhoven. Otherwise, E.d.G. has no disclosures to make. S.T. and L.S. are employees of BENEO GmbH/Südzucker Group. In this double-blinded study, source data were provided by Atlantia Food Clinical Trials CRO, Cork, Ireland. Primary data analysis and report generation were undertaken by Atlantia Food Clinical Trials CRO independently from the sponsor. The statistical analyses of this publication have been developed for BENEO GmbH, which was also the exclusive sponsor of the project. BENEO GmbH reserves the exclusive right to use the results and data for possible Health Claim requests.
- Authors work at
- Amsterdam UMC-Location Academic Medical Centre, The Netherlands; BENEO-Institute, Germany
The paper
- Title
- Efficacy of Isomaltulose Compared to Sucrose in Modulating Endothelial Function in Overweight Adults
- Type
- Randomised controlled trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- de Groot E, Schweitzer L, Theis S (2020). Efficacy of Isomaltulose Compared to Sucrose in Modulating Endothelial Function in Overweight Adults. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu12010141Free full textPubMed 31947853DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error