1. Introduction
In this randomized, double-blind triple-crossover study (NCT05142137), the digestive tolerance and safety of a novel, slowly digestible carbohydrate (SDC), oligomalt, an α-1,3/α-1,6-glucan α-glucose-based polymer, was assessed in healthy adults over three separate 7-day periods, comparing a high dose of oligomalt (180 g/day) or a moderate dose of oligomalt (80 g/day in combination with 100 g maltodextrin/day) with maltodextrin (180 g/day), provided as four daily servings in 300 mL of water with a meal. Each period was followed by a one-week washout. A total of 24 subjects (15 females, age 34 years, BMI 22.2 kg/mCarbohydrates represent a large family of heterogenous molecules derived from carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that can be naturally occurring or derived. Dietary carbohydrates, also called “glycemic carbohydrate”, are a major macronutrient for both humans and omnivorous animals, and it is recommended that adults in western countries obtain approximately half their daily caloric intake from dietary carbohydrates. This is illustrated by a variety of dietary guidelines, such as The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommend that carbohydrates make up 45–65% of total daily calories in people aged two years old and older [Digestible carbohydrates are an important source of energy for most mammalian cells, including as the primary source of fuel for the brain. They are also used as sweeteners (mostly sucrose, glucose, and fructose) and to add texture, bulk, and increase appearance and preservation/shelf life of many foods [A growing interest in the health and food industry is therefore focused on the use of complex dietary carbohydrates that are slowly digested and can substitute, or at least reduce the amount of, the less-desired rapidly digestible carbohydrates. Unlike fiber, defined by the WHO and Codex Alimentarius as all carbohydrates that are neither digested nor absorbed in the small intestine and which have a degree of polymerization (DP) of ten or more monomeric units [There have been several innovations and developments that have aimed to identify an appropriate SDC [This study evaluated the tolerability of oligomalt, a novel SDC (formerly also known as alternan saccharide (AS 15)) with a DP of approximately 15 relative to a rapidly available carbohydrates (maltodextrin), in healthy individuals. Since it is anticipated that oligomalt is slower to digest than a readily available carbohydrate (such as corn syrup or maltodextrin), albeit still fully digestible [