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Popular sweetener erythritol increases risk of heart attack and stroke, study says
How much do you know about erythritol? Its a sugar alcohol used as a low-calorie sweetener, and the largest ingredient by weight in many natural stevia products, but a recent Cleveland Clinic study suggests that eating it could increase risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes.
Erythritol is one of the most common artificial sweeteners on the market and often features on the ingredient lists of foods marketed for weight loss and diabetes. It has zero calories, takes the form of white crystal granules, and tastes similar to table sugar. But the evidence is mounting against it.
New research finds link between erythritol and heart attacks, strokes
Eating foods containing the popular artificial sweetener erythritol may increase the risk of cardiovascular events, like heart attacks and strokes. It comes after Xylitol has already been found to have a similar effect.
Thats the key finding from a new Cleveland Clinic study published in the academic journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.�
Per Cleveland Clinics Newsroom, it adds to increasing evidence that erythritol may not be as safe, despite currently being classified as such by food regulatory agencies.�
It should be reevaluated, the Clinic adds.�
The research study found that erythritol makes platelets, a type of blood cell, more active.
Platelets are small and colorless, but don’t underestimate their importance. They help prevent and stop bleeding by forming blood clots. Theyre actually tiny fragments of much larger cells found in bone marrow, called megakaryocytes. By clotting, they help wounds heal. Having too many or too few of them, or platelets that dont function properly, can cause problems.
Having over-active platelets can raise the risk of blood clots �as in, when theyre not needed to help heal a wound. This is the health risk erythritol poses to humans.
Sugar, on the other hand, doesnt have this effect.
What it means for people trying to stay healthy
People who are at risk of cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes are often recommended to eat foods that contain sugar substitutes, based on the popular wisdom that eating too much sugar is bad for you.
People with obesity, diabetes, or metabolic syndrome might have received such recommendations. Erythritol and other artificial sweeteners are common replacements for table sugar, whether to sweeten tea or coffee, or as an ingredient in low-calorie, low-carbohydrate, and keto products.
The fact that its eaten in quantities that may increase cardiovascular risk based on this research means this whole system needs to be rethought.
This research raises some concerns that a standard serving of an erythritol-sweetened food or beverage may acutely stimulate a direct clot-forming effect, said study co-author W H Wilson Tang.
For the consumer, Tang suggests choosing sugar-sweetened treats occasionally and in small amounts is better than unfettered consumption of artificially sweetened products.
