Science Editorial, Aug 8 (EFE).- Various studies have warned that erythritol, an artificial sweetener commonly found in bakery products, drinks, chewing gum and candy, increases the risk of cardiovascular problems. Today, new research adds evidence against this sugar substitute.
The study, led by Stanley Hazen, professor of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences at the Lerner Research Institute of the Cleveland Clinic (Ohio, United States), has shown that erythritol makes platelets (a type of blood cell) more active, which can increase the risk of blood clots, something that sugar (glucose) does not do.
The research, published Thursday in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, adds new evidence that erythritol is not as safe as currently classified by food regulators and should be re-evaluated.
“Many professional societies and physicians routinely recommend that people at high cardiovascular risk – obesity, diabetes or metabolic syndrome – consume foods containing sugar substitutes instead of sugar,” explains Hazen, lead author of the study.
This is why it is important to conduct long-term clinical studies to help “evaluate the cardiovascular safety of erythritol and other sugar substitutes,” warns the cardiologist.
Erythritol in the blood
Erythritol, which is obtained from the fermentation of corn sugar, is approximately 70% sweeter than sugar and is used as an alternative to sugar or saccharin because it does not provide calories or carbohydrates.
However, once ingested, erythritol is not metabolized well in the body, but passes into the bloodstream and is eliminated through urine. The human body creates low amounts of erythritol naturally, so any additional consumption can add up.
However, erythritol is classified by the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) and the European Food Safety Authority as a “generally recognized as safe” ingredient, allowing its unrestricted use in food products.
This is mainly because it is a sugar alcohol found naturally in fruits and vegetables and is a byproduct of glucose metabolism in human tissues, albeit in small amounts.
However, recent studies have found evidence that erythritol, in commonly consumed quantities, increases cardiovascular risk.
The new research builds on an earlier study by Hazen’s team published last year in Nature Medicine, which found that heart patients with elevated levels of erythritol were twice as likely to suffer a major cardiac event in the following three years compared with those with low levels.
That research also found that adding erythritol to patients’ blood or platelets increased clot formation. These findings were confirmed by preclinical studies.
The harm of a “sugar-free” muffin
The new study was designed to look more directly at the effects on platelets following ingestion of erythritol at a dose typically contained in a sugar-free soft drink or muffin.
In 20 healthy volunteers, the team found that the average post-meal erythritol level increased more than 1,000-fold in the erythritol-consuming group compared to their baseline levels.
The results also revealed that participants showed a significant increase in blood clot formation after consuming erythritol, but no change was observed after consuming glucose.
“This research raises some concern that a standard serving of an erythritol-sweetened food or beverage may acutely stimulate a direct clot-forming effect,” said study co-author WH Wilson Tang of the Cleveland Clinic.
The results of this study come shortly after another recent study by this group which showed that xylitol, another common artificial sweetener, also affects platelets and its consumption is associated with a higher risk of heart attack, stroke or death in the following three years.
The authors point out that further clinical studies are urgently needed to evaluate the long-term cardiovascular safety of these sweeteners.
“Cardiovascular disease accumulates over time, and heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. We need to make sure that the foods we eat are not contributing in hidden ways,” Hazen concludes.
(c) EFE Agency
