D-Psicose inhibits the growth of L1 stage Caenorhabditis elegans. Sugars, involved in the pentose phosphate pathway, were examined for their ability to reverse the inhibition. Among these sugars, D-ribose specifically exerted reversing activity in a competitive manner. The ingested sugars are probably phosphorylated, although it remains to be seen whether D-psicose is phosphorylated. The structural similarity of D-psicofuranose 6-phosphate (Pf6P) or D-psicofuranose (Pf) to D-ribofuranose 5-phosphate (Rf5P) suggests that Pf6P or Pf is reversibly docked in the active site(s) of ribose-5-phosphate isomerase(s) to act as an antimetabolite to Rf5P, leading to inhibition of the biosynthesis of nucleic acids. D-Psicose was much less potent against the L4 stage than against the L1 stage. This is probably because in the L4 stage the somatic cell lineages come to an end and the number of germ-line nuclei increases to about 1000.