Benefits
Bowel movement frequency at 12 g a day
In 192 adults with functional constipation, 12 g a day for 2 weeks gave more bowel movements per week than placebo (about 1 more a week, while the placebo group dropped by 1), but colonic transit time, the main outcome, did not change at any dose, and most symptom scores did not differ from placebo. The maker funded and ran the trial, and the group already had about 8.7 bowel movements a week.
Gut bacteria and colon fermentation
In healthy adults, 12 g a day for 50 days did not change gut bacteria diversity, bacterial groups or fermentation products in stool, plasma or urine compared with placebo. In exploratory analyses of other trials, 12 g a day for 6 months raised Christensenellaceae, and 12.5 g a day for 4 weeks raised one bacterial group versus placebo.
Calorie intake at the next meal after a snack or drink
In single-day tests, a mid-morning drink with 6.3 to 25 g cut calories eaten at lunch, and larger doses cut more; 12.5 g in a yogurt drink cut lunch intake by about 219 kJ. A maker-authored pooled analysis found no reliable drop over the whole day. These one-day tests do not show weight loss.
Hunger ratings and the fullness hormone GLP-1 after a meal
In 18 adults with obesity, 15 g added to a high-fat meal raised GLP-1 more than the same meal alone and lowered hunger afterward by 40%; ghrelin, CCK and PYY did not change. A maker-authored pooled analysis of seven tests found only a small drop in desire to eat and no change in hunger or fullness.
Body fat over six months
In 225 adults with overweight or obesity, 12 g a day for 6 months did not change body fat compared with a cellulose placebo, and the authors report it had no effect on any measured outcome, including food intake. The trial was fully funded by the maker.
Attention and mental flexibility test scores
In an exploratory crossover trial in 18 healthy women, 4 weeks of 12.5 g a day versus maltodextrin was linked to fewer errors on a mental flexibility task and more correct responses on a sustained attention task. Only 18 people took part, the authors call the improvement modest, and it has not been repeated.
Blood fat levels after a high-fat meal
In three maker-funded single-meal tests in 58 adults, adding 12.5 or 15 g to a high-fat meal lowered the blood triglyceride response in a pooled statistical model, but the triglyceride area under the curve did not differ from placebo in any of the three groups when each was analyzed alone.
Mechanism of action
Resists digestion and is partly fermented
Its random, branched glucose bonds resist digestive enzymes, so absorption is limited. Part of it reaches the large intestine, where bacteria ferment it into short-chain fatty acids, as summarized by EU food safety regulators.
Gut hormone signals linked to fullness
In maker-run single-meal trials, polydextrose with a meal raised the gut hormone GLP-1, which signals fullness, while ghrelin, CCK and PYY did not change. Whether this explains the lower intake seen at the next meal has not been shown.
Bile acid handling in the colon
In healthy adults taking 12 g a day for 50 days, polydextrose raised the share of primary bile acids in stool and lowered the ratios that reflect bacterial conversion to secondary bile acids, without changing total bile acid levels. What this means for health is not known.
Clinical trials
Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled parallel trial of Litesse Ultra at 4, 8 or 12 g/day versus 12 g maltodextrin for 2 weeks, with colonic transit time as the primary outcome; fully sponsored by DuPont Nutrition and Health, two authors were DuPont employees and three were employees of KGK Synergize, the research firm DuPont hired to run it (Ibarra et al. 2019, Nutrients)
192 adults with functional constipation by Rome III criteria, averaging 8.7 bowel movements a week at baseline.
Colonic transit time did not differ between groups, and the authors state the group was not constipated enough at baseline. At 12 g/day, weekly bowel movements were higher than with placebo (Dunnett-adjusted p = 0.006), but the 12 g group rose by only 1.1 a week from run-in (not significant) while the placebo group fell by 1.0 a week. Most questionnaire scores improved from baseline in all groups, including placebo; the 4 g/day group reported 65% worse rectal symptom scores than placebo (Dunnett-adjusted p = 0.027). No serious adverse events were reported.
Randomized, double-blind, controlled trial of 180 ml yogurt daily for 14 days with 4 g Litesse (3.6 g polydextrose) plus L. acidophilus NCFM and B. lactis HN019, versus plain yogurt; sponsored by BRF Brasil Foods, with two DuPont employees among the authors, and DuPont owns and markets the ingredients (Magro et al. 2014, Nutr J)
47 adults with chronic constipation (43 women), 26 on the test yogurt and 21 on plain yogurt.
Colonic transit time was shorter at the end in the test group than in the control group (24.6 vs 33.9 hours, p = 0.01), and constipation scores fell in both groups. Bowel movements per day did not change. Because the yogurt also held two probiotics, the effect cannot be credited to Litesse alone.
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled four-arm trial of 12 g/day Litesse Ultra, the probiotic B. lactis B420, both together, or microcrystalline cellulose for 6 months; fully funded by DuPont Nutrition and Health, with DuPont authors; a later exploratory microbiota analysis of a 134-person subset used the same trial (Stenman et al. 2016, EBioMedicine)
225 healthy adults with overweight or obesity (BMI 28 to 34.9).
Litesse Ultra alone did not change body fat mass compared with placebo (+0.3%, P = 1.00, per-protocol), and the authors report it had no effect on the measured outcomes. The probiotic plus fiber lowered body fat versus placebo only in the per-protocol analysis (the probiotic alone did not, P = 0.28; only a post-hoc factorial analysis pooling both probiotic groups against the groups without it was significant); no group differed in the intention-to-treat analysis. In the subset analysis, Christensenellaceae rose in both fiber groups. Adverse events did not differ.
Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled 2 x 2 factorial trial of 12 g/day Litesse Ultra and/or 23 g/day resistant starch versus maltodextrin and starch placebos for 50 days; funded by a UK research council industry club grant, with polydextrose supplied by DuPont Danisco (IFF) and one IFF author (Malcomson et al. 2024, Br J Nutr)
Healthy middle-aged adults; 58 with paired stool samples analyzed.
Neither fiber changed gut bacteria diversity, the relative abundance of any genus, or fermentation products in stool, plasma or urine. A later analysis of the same trial found polydextrose raised the share of primary bile acids in stool and lowered secondary bile acid conversion ratios, without changing bile acid levels.
Randomized, single-blinded, placebo-controlled crossover trial of yogurt drinks with 0, 6.25 or 12.5 g Litesse (Litesse Two, per a later review) given 90 minutes before an ad libitum lunch, followed by an ad libitum dinner; a maker-authored review states the study was sponsored at least in part by DuPont (Hull et al. 2012, Appetite)
34 healthy men and women.
Both doses raised fullness and lowered appetite ratings right after the drink compared with control. Lunch intake fell by 218.8 kJ after 12.5 g only, and this drop was not made up at dinner. Each test lasted one day.
Randomized within-subject crossover trial of an 837 kJ liquid preload with 0, 6.3, 12.5 or 25 g polydextrose, identified as Litesse Ultra in a later review, 90 minutes before an ad libitum test meal; sponsored by the UK BBSRC with Mars UK as a private partner, per that review (Astbury et al. 2013, Br J Nutr)
21 adults (12 men, 9 women).
Test-meal intake was lower after every dose than after control (5,756 kJ vs 4,362 kJ at 25 g). Intake for the rest of the day did not differ, total daily intake was lower after 12.5 and 25 g, and appetite ratings did not differ. Each test lasted one day.
Multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial of a high-fat meal with a cola drink containing 15 g Litesse Ultra or none; funded by DuPont, which supplied the polydextrose, and six authors were or had been DuPont employees (Olli et al. 2015, Nutr J)
18 non-diabetic adults with obesity (average BMI 33.6).
GLP-1 rose more than with the meal alone (P = 0.02), and hunger after the meal fell by 40% (P = 0.03); satisfaction rose only marginally (P = 0.08). Ghrelin, CCK, PYY and short-chain fatty acids did not differ. Food intake was not measured.
Exploratory double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial of 12.5 g Litesse Ultra or maltodextrin daily for 4 weeks; grants listed from the EU MyNewGut project and Science Foundation Ireland (Berding et al. 2021, Psychopharmacology (Berl))
18 healthy women.
After polydextrose, errors fell on a mental flexibility task and correct responses rose on a sustained attention task. Gut bacteria diversity did not change; one bacterial group rose compared with placebo. The authors describe the cognitive improvement as modest.