A GLUCOSE-RICH DIET SHORTENS LONGEVITY OF MICE

High plasma levels of glucose and insulin over long time periods play an important role in the genesis of diabetic complications. There is e vidence that the long term consumption of glucose-rich diet by rats is detrimental to insulin sensitivity. We investigated the effect of a g lucose-rich diet on longevity of 70 female mice which were compared to 70 mice on a control diet. The average age of death of the control gr oup was 568 +/- 139 days compared to 511 +/- 170 for the glucose group and the seven oldest mice of the control group died at age 890 +/- 52 days, while the seven oldest mice of the glucose group died at 833 +/ - 49 days. These differences are statistically significant (P less tha n or equal to 0.05). Our work shows that a life-long intake of a diet with 20% of total energy derived from glucose leads to a significant r eduction of the average and maximal life-span in female mice and thus, supports previous observations of detrimental effects of high glucose intake over long periods. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.