Compelling evidence indicates that excess consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages plays an important role in the epidemic of obesity, a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Type 2 diabetes mellitus has been associated with a higher incidence of Alzheimer disease (AD). High fat diets promote ADlike pathology in mice. It is not known whether consumption of excess sugar as in calorically sweetened beverages with an otherwise normal diet affects the development of AD. In the present study, we provided 10% sucrose-sweetened water to a transgenic mouse model of AD with a normal rodent diet. Compared with the control mice with no sucrose added in the water, the sucrose group gained more body weight and developed glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, and hypercholesterolemia. These metabolic changes were associated with the exacerbation of memory impairment and a 2-3-fold increase in insoluble amyloid- protein levels and deposition in the brain. We further showed that the levels of expression and secretase-cleaved products of amyloid- precursor protein were not affected by sucrose intake. The steady-state levels of insulin-degrading enzyme did not change significantly, whereas there was a 2.5-fold increase in brain apoE levels. Therefore, we concluded that the up-regulation of apoE accelerated the aggregation of A, resulting in the exacerbation of cerebral amyloidosis in sucrose-treated mice. These data underscore the potential role of dietary sugar in the pathogenesis of AD and suggest that controlling the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages may be an effective way to curtail the risk of developing AD.Added sugars, mainly sucrose and high fructose corn syrup, are major components of a modern human diet. Compelling evidence indicates that excess consumption of sweet foods, particularly sugar-sweetened beverages, plays an important role in the epidemic of obesity around the world (1). In the United States, the percentage of children who are overweight has doubled, and the percentage of teenagers who are overweight has tripled (2, 3). Overweight children are at an increased risk to become obese adults (4). Even moderate obesity can contribute to chronic metabolic abnormalities leading to type 2 diabetes mellitus (5) characterized by glucose intolerance and hyperinsulinemia.Alzheimer disease (AD) 2 is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized clinically by progressive cognitive impairment. Pathological hallmarks of the AD brain include intracellular neurofibrillary tangles and deposits of aggregated amyloid- protein (A) in neuritic plaques and cerebral vessels. The pathogenic mechanisms that lead to the development of AD, however, are not fully understood. One of the main hypotheses is that -amyloidosis (production and deposition of A) plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of AD (6). A (39 -43 amino acids) is derived from a large transmembrane glycoprotein, amyloid- precursor protein (APP), via proteolytic processing by secretases (6). This hypothesis is supported by discoveries of...