zero calorie sweetenerErythritolErythritol is thought to be the perfect sugar substitute, but a new study suggests it can cause heart attacks and pose a risk of death.
Published in early 2023“Natural Medicine”A study in (Nature Medicine) stated that,ErythritolThe popular sweetener increases blood clotting, dramatically raising the risk of heart attack, stroke and even death. Afterwards, the media reported on this and promoted it on the Internet, pointing out the dangers of consuming erythritol. However, before moving away from erythritol, key aspects of this research need to be considered in depth.
Erythritol occurs naturally in fruits such as grapes, pears, and watermelons, as well as in fermented foods such as beer, wine, and soy sauce. In addition to being found naturally in foods, since 1990, commercially produced erythritol also provides sweetness to foods and beverages.
Erythritol is popular in the United States and around the world because it has at least the following advantages: Compared with other natural sweeteners, erythritol is moreeasy to digest;because it won’tRaise blood sugarit is often recommended for diabetics; erythritol can alsoReduce dental plaqueand tooth decay.
Erythritol is also popular among people following a ketogenic diet because it satisfies sugar cravings without affecting blood sugar and knocking people out of ketosis.
In addition to being used as an artificial sweetener, erythritol is also found naturally in fruits such as grapes, pears, and watermelons. (shutterstock)
research process
1. Experimental results of three groups of subjects
Erythritol and its risk of arterial disease were studied because there is not enough information about sugar substitutes and their long-term effects, the researchers said.
The initial study looked at 1,157 patients undergoing heart tests. The researchers measured levels of artificial sweetener metabolites in their blood, and of several artificial sweetener metabolites found, levels of erythritol were elevated. The researchers also found that the study subjects with the highest levels of erythritol in their blood later developed serious heart disease, such as heart attacks or strokes.
However, they didn’t study what these people ate, so they couldn’t determine whether they ate anything containing erythritol.
Afterwards, the researchers gathered two more groups of people to verify the results of the first group. One group was 2,149 Americans, and the other group was 833 Europeans, and conducted the same blood test on them.
Notably, both groups had an average age of 63 to 75 years and also had high rates of high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and a history of heart attacks. Moreover, subjects in the second group were selected from “quaternary referral centers,” which are highly specialized hospitals known for treating the sickest patients. The researchers noted that these individuals were already at high risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.
Again, the second group had high levels of erythritol in their blood, and similar to the first group, those with the highest erythritol levels also developed severe heart disease over the next three years.
But the researchers did not study the eating habits of this group or whether they consumed any foods containing erythritol.
Ice cream, cakes, etc. may contain erythritol. (Shutterstock)
2. Check coagulation function
The researchers concluded that because higher circulating erythritol levels were associated with higher rates of blood clots or major heart disease in the three study groups, they needed to explore the effects of erythritol on platelet function. So they took platelet-rich plasma from healthy people, put it in a petri dish, injected it with erythritol, and found that those platelets became sticky and started to form clots.
To further evaluate the effect of erythritol on blood clotting, the researchers injected mice with erythritol and found that when higher levels of erythritol were circulating in the blood, the mice developed blood clots and carotid arteries. damage.
3. Ingest high concentrations of erythritol
Finally, the scientists wanted to find out what happens when healthy people are given large amounts of erythritol. They tested the blood of eight healthy participants after they drank a drink containing 30 grams of erythritol. 30 grams of erythritol is approximately equivalent to the amount of erythritol in 15 packets of the erythritol sweetener Truvia. Levels of erythritol in the participants’ blood rose 1,000-fold and remained elevated for two days before slowly declining.
The researchers did not detect whether clots formed in the participants’ blood, nor did they follow them for more than two days.
According to the researchers, their findings across the board suggest that erythritol is associated with a higher risk of major adverse cardiac events (heart attack, stroke, or death) and increased blood clotting.
Research conclusion analysis
A key fact not lightly discussed in the study is that eating and drinking sweetened erythritol products is not the only way erythritol enters the bloodstream.Our body itself isvia pentose phosphate(PPP) produces erythritol. Simply put, pentose phosphate helps the body make DNA and RNA. The end product of this process is compounds that fight dangerous free radicals. These compounds are called antioxidants, and erythritol is one of them. Researchers have called erythritol “Sweet antioxidant」。
Kelly Johnson-Arbor, a medical toxicologist and medical director of the National Capital Poison Center, told The Epoch Times: “Because high blood sugar levels can lead to increased oxidative stress, some studies Researchers believe that erythritol actually acts as an antioxidant to prevent oxidative stress and could be a good sugar substitute for people with diabetes. But the results of this study suggest that erythritol is beneficial to people with diabetes and other It could be harmful to people at risk for heart disease.”
However, the higher circulating erythritol levels in the study subjects may be due to their chronic disease state.
Dana Hunnes, a senior nutritionist at UCLA Medical Center who has a doctorate in community health sciences, told The Epoch Times that she is not a “big fan” of sugar alcohols and chemically derived sugars. She was familiar with two studies cited in the Nature Medicine study that found blood levels of erythritol in first-year college students were associated with weight gain and that erythritol levels were linked to type 2 diabetes. “One of the main reasons I avoid sugar alcohols like erythritol is that they may be negatively associated with blood sugar control, blood sugar levels, and weight gain,” Hennis says.
Kelly Johnson-Arbor and Hennis agreed that it’s difficult to draw conclusions from the study because it doesn’t relate to real-world use and it’s unclear whether it would generalize to the general U.S. population.
Kelly Johnson Arbor added, “Several factors, including dietary habits, may play a role, but this has not been clearly studied, and more is needed on the exact relationship between erythritol and cardiovascular disease. Research.”
Hennis said that in addition to the need for more research, media publicity often exaggerates certain research results for attention.
For the English report, please see the English version of The Epoch Times:Erythritol: Linked to Heart Attack, Stroke? Don’t Throw It Out Just Yet。
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Editor in charge: Li Fan
2023-10-09 16:10:06
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