Dietary supplementation with oligofructose (Om; 100 g/kg), a nodigestible oligomer of /h-fructose, decreases serum triacylglycerols in serum and VLDL of rats. In order to investigate the role of hepatic metabolism in the hypolipidaemic effect of Om, male Wistar rats were fed on a standard diet with or without 1OOg Raftilosee P d k g as OFS source for 30d. OFS feeding (1) significantly decreased triacylglycerol and phqholipid concentrations in both blood and liver, (2) increased the glycerol-3-phosphate liver content but decreased the hepatic activity of glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (EC 2 -3.1. W), suggesting a decrease in acylglycerol synthesis, (3) did not affect the blood non-esterified fatty acid concentrations, but (4) reduced by 54% the capacity of isolated hepatocytes to synthesize and secrete triacylglycerols from labelled acetate; the activity of fatty acid synthase, a key lipogenic enzyme was also significantly decreased. These findings suggest that OFS decreases sennu triacylglycerols by reducing de nova fatty acid synthesis in the liver; the lower insulin level in the serum of OFS-fed rats could explain, at least partly, the metabolic effect induced by such nondigestible carbohydrates. Feeding rats on a diet supplemented with oligofructose (OFS; lWg/kg), a nondigestible but fermentable oligomer of /3-D-fructose obtained by enzymic hydrolysis of chicory (Cichorium intybus) inulin, significantly lowers serum TAG and phospholipid (PL) concentrations (Delzenne et al. 1993). This is exclusively due to a decrease in the concentration of plasma VLDL (Fiordaliso et al. 1995). The hepatic synthesis of VLDL involves the biosynthesis of both lipids and apoproteins, their assembly into nascent VLDL particles, and the secretion of mature VLDL into the circulation (Gibbons, 1990).Since newly-synthesized fatty acids are preferentially channelled into VLDL, the lipogenic activity of the liver is a key factor in hepatic VLDL-TAG output (Gibbons, 1990