The underlying mechanisms for the detrimental consequences of a high-fructose diet in animal models are not clear. However, the possibility exists that fructose feeding facilitates oxidative damage. Thus, the aim of the present study was to assess, in weaning rats, the effect of a highsucrose diet v. starch diet for 2 weeks on oxidative stress variables. Plasma lipid levels were measured and lipid peroxidation was evaluated by urine and plasma thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS). The susceptibilities of several tissues to peroxidation were determined in tissue homogenates after in vitro lipid peroxidation. Antioxidant defence variables were evaluated by measuring plasma and heart vitamin E levels, and heart superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activities. Higher plasma triacylglycerol (P,0·01) and TBARS (P,0·01) levels were found in rats fed the sucrose diet as compared with the starch-fed group, whereas plasma a-tocopherol levels were significantly decreased in the sucrose-fed group compared with the starch-fed group (P,0·01). Higher urine TBARS (P,0·01) were found in the sucrose-fed group compared with the starch-fed group, suggesting increased production of these substances from lipid peroxidation in vivo. Higher susceptibility to peroxidation in heart, thymus and pancreas was also found in the sucrose-fed group v. the starch-fed group. No statistical differences were observed for liver TBARS level between the two groups. Heart SOD activity was significantly decreased (P,0·001) in the sucrose-fed group compared with the starch-fed group, whereas heart vitamin E level and GPX activity were not different between the groups. However, the in vitro generation of superoxide radical in heart homogenate, measured by electron spin resonance detection and spin trapping, was not increased in the sucrose-fed group compared with starch-fed rats. Altogether, the results indicate that a short-term consumption of a high-sucrose diet negatively affects the balance of free radical production and antioxidant defence in rats, leading to increased lipid susceptibility to peroxidation.High-sucrose diet: Oxidative stress: Free radicals: Rats D-Fructose is a sugar that exists in foods as a simple sugar and as a component of the disaccharide sucrose, consisting of one molecule of glucose and one of fructose. Because of the use of high-fructose corn sweeteners and of sucrose in manufactured foods, the dietary consumption of fructose has increased several-fold from that present in natural foods (Henry et al. 1991). Although there is little evidence that modest amounts of fructose have detrimental effects on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, larger doses of fructose have been associated with numerous metabolic abnormalities in human subjects and laboratory animals, suggesting that high-fructose consumption induces adverse effects on health (Hallfrisch, 1990;Henry et al. 1991). High-sucrose and high-fructose diets were used in animal models to induce the metabolic changes observed in syndrome X, a diso...