Overview
- Researchers from the Dasman Diabetes Institute presented the findings at ENDO 2026 on Saturday, June 13, 2026, reporting that a sucrose-free low-fat regimen produced unexpected harms in mice.
- In a controlled 16‑week experiment, investigators split 12 healthy mice into two groups that ate equal calories of either a low-fat diet with sucrose or a sucrose-free low-fat diet.
- Mice on the sucrose-free diet developed poorer glucose tolerance, reduced insulin sensitivity, signs of intestinal inflammation and fatty-liver changes despite no difference in body or liver weight.
- The sucrose-free group showed shifts in gut microbes, including lower levels of beneficial Lactobacillus murinus and increases in inflammation-linked taxa that coincided with the metabolic changes.
- Experts stress the study is small, done in mice and not yet peer reviewed, so it does not overturn human evidence linking added sugars to disease and instead highlights the need for peer review and human trials to guide policy.