- Nerys M Astbury: School of Biomedical Sciences, E Floor Medical School, University of Nottingham, Queen's Medical School Campus, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK.
Previous studies have reported that polydextrose can reduce food intake; however, the optimal dose required to achieve this effect is currently unknown. The present study investigated the effects of consuming a range of doses of polydextrose on appetite and energy intake (EI) using a randomised within-subject, cross-over design. For this purpose, twenty-one participants (n 12 men, n 9 women) consumed an 837 kJ liquid preload containing 0 g (control), 6.3, 12.5 or 25 g polydextrose. Subjective appetite ratings were collected using visual analogue scales and an ad libitum test meal was served 90 min later. Participants recorded EI for the remainder of the day in a food diary. Test meal EI following the control preload (5756 (sem 423) kJ) was significantly higher than following the 6.3 g (5048 (sem 384) kJ), 12.5 g (4722 (sem 384) kJ) and 25 g (4362 (sem 316) kJ) preloads (P< 0.05), and EI following the 6.3 g preload was significantly higher than following the 25 g preload (P< 0.01). There were no differences in self-reported EI during the remainder of the day between the preloads containing the varying doses of polydextrose. Total EI (breakfast+preload+ad libitum test meal+remainder of the day) was significantly higher when the control preload was consumed (12,051 (sem 805) kJ) compared with either the 12.5 g (10,854 (sem 589) kJ) or 25 g (10,658 (sem 506) kJ) preload (P< 0.05). These differences in EI were not accompanied by corresponding differences in subjective appetite ratings. In summary, polydextrose effectively reduces subsequent EI in a dose-dependent manner.