I noticed this news item in CNN Health and thought it was important to share it with you quickly. If you do an internet search, you will find that most news outlets have picked it up. Basically, a study published on February 27, 2023 in the journal Nature reports that people with the highest blood levels of erythritol have twice the risk of having a blood clot, stroke, or even dying as compared with those who have the lowest levels (1).
It’s important to note that this was a large study conducted over three years. The lead researcher, Dr. Stanley Hazen, is chair of the cardiovascular and metabolic sciences department at the Cleveland Clinic (1). So I think it’s fair to assume that it’s reputable.
“If your blood level of erythritol was in the top 25% compared to the bottom 25%, there was about a two-fold higher risk for heart attack and stroke. It’s on par with the strongest of cardiac risk factors, like diabetes,” Hazen said.
Additional lab and animal research presented in the paper revealed that erythritol appeared to be causing blood platelets to clot more readily. Clots can break off and travel to the heart, triggering a heart attack, or to the brain, triggering a stroke (2).
Erythritol is a sugar alcohol that is used in many processed foods and diet drinks, as well as sugar substitutes Truvia and Splenda (3). It does occur in nature, but in much smaller quantities as compared to its highly concentrated use in the food industry. It’s very popular with Keto and low carb dieters, and of course those with diabetes.
Erythritol is certainly not the first artificial sweetener that has turned out to be dangerous to our health, and I doubt it will be the last. There have been many controversies about these sweeteners since they became popularized in the mid 20th century (4).
Even though erythritol does exist in nature, we use it in a very unnatural way! For example, there are 22 milligrams (0.005 of a teaspoon) of erythritol in a kg (2.2 pounds) of watermelon (5). In one single serving packet of Truvia, there are 2 grams (1/2 teaspoon) of erythritol (6). Though our bodies are adept at processing the infinitesimal amounts of this sugar alcohol found in natural foods, is it any surprise that there may be difficulties in handling substances thousands of times more potent? And how many packets of Truvia are added to a cup of coffee or tea, when the dieter knows they are calorie free?
As always, check with your doctor before making any significant changes to your diet. But it might be wise to look at other sweeteners to replace erythritol until additional research has been conducted. It is the recommendation of the study that more work needs to be done to assess the long term safety of erythritol (7).
We may find that it’s healthier to eat and drink the foods and beverages that nature has provided and our bodies are capable of properly using. Let’s stay safe and maintain our healthy weight!
(2). https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/27/health/zero-calorie-sweetener-heart-attack-stroke-wellness/index.html
(3). https://www.insider.com/low-calorie-sweetener-linked-to-heart-attack-and-stroke-risk-2023-2
(4). https://jamaicahospital.org/newsletter/history-of-artificial-sweetners/
Maintain Weight Loss 