Sugar-Rich Diet Proves Deadly For Mice In Experiments

In a study in mice, U.S. researchers found that a 25 percent increase in sugar – half dextrose and half fructose – in the diet caused serious health problems. That sugar increase, comparable to three cans of sugary soda added to an otherwise healthy human diet, caused a higher rate of mortality and reduced fertility, the researchers said. The same unhealthy results were seen when mice were inbred and when they consumed the added sugar. To conduct the study, researchers used 377-square-foot "mouse barns" enclosed by 3-foot walls to closely approximate the actual living conditions – and breeding, feeding, and competitive behavior – of house and field mice.