Artificial sweetener linked to risk of heart attack and stroke, study finds | Smart News

The artificial sweetener erythritol has been linked to a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes, according to a study published Monday in the journal natural medicine.

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol found naturally in low amounts in fruits and vegetables, but added in much higher levels in processed foods, according to the study. It is widely used in sugar substitutes and reduced sugar products. Due to its ubiquity, some people now have higher than normal blood erythritol levels, for new scientistIt is Clare Wilson, which could lead to an increased risk of blood clots.

Some experts say factors other than erythritol may be at play, while others argue that artificial sweeteners aren’t as bad as added sugars. Either way, some researchers advise consumers to be mindful of what they eat.

“Obviously more research is needed, but with a lot of caution it might be a good idea to limit erythritol in your diet for now,” Andrew Freemana cardiologist at the National Jewish Health hospital who did not contribute to the study, says CNNIt’s Sandee LaMotte.

Recently, erythritol has become more common in food products. A report 2022 from NielsenIQ found that sales of foods containing the sweetener increased 43% over the previous two years. While artificial sweeteners are generally considered safe by regulatory agencies, little is known about their long-term health effects, the study authors write.

“We have work to do on each of the artificial sweeteners,” Kimber Stanhopea nutritional research biologist at the University of California, Davis, who did not contribute to the article, tells New statistics‘ Matthew Herper. “It’s ridiculous how understudied they are.”

In fact, studying artificial sweeteners was not the original focus of the new research. The team was looking for compounds linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular health problems. They studied the blood of 1,157 people undergoing heart risk assessment and followed them for three years to record heart attacks, strokes or deaths. They found erythritol to be “right at the top of the list” of compounds linked to these events, Stanley Hazenco-author of the study and medical scientist at the Cleveland Clinic, says USA todayIt is Karen Weintraub.

To confirm this finding, they examined the blood of 2,149 participants in the United States and 833 participants in Europe who were undergoing an elective cardiac evaluation. Again, they found that erythritol was linked to adverse health effects: after controlling for other factors, the risk of a heart attack or stroke over the next three years was approximately twice as high for people whose erythritol levels were in the top 25% compared to those in the bottom 25%, according to new scientist.

Of the participants in these two studies, about 75% had coronary heart disease or high blood pressure, and about 20% had diabetes, Hazen told CNN.

In a final study, eight participants at low risk of heart attack or stroke consumed foods and beverages containing 30 grams of erythritol. The level of sweetener in their blood increased a thousandfold and remained elevated for several hours. The researchers also conducted laboratory experiments in which erythritol appeared to cause blood to clot and increase the risk of clotting in genetically modified mice.

“For people at risk of clotting, heart attack and stroke, like people with existing heart disease or people with diabetes, I think there’s enough data here to say to stay away from erythritol until further studies are done,” Hazen told CNN.

The research did not prove that higher levels of erythritol caused heart attacks and strokes – it simply found an association between the two. Several experts note New statistics that instead, conditions causing heart disease may have led to high levels of erythritol, which is produced naturally by the body.

Despite the possible risks of erythritol, some scientists say it could be the lesser evil: consuming products with added sugar could be worse for you than consuming low-sugar products. “If you have diabetes and you have a choice between eating sugar and eating this, I would bet on it,” Karen Aspria Brown University clinical cardiologist who was not involved in the research, says New statistics.

But until more studies are done, others recommend caution with erythritol for now. “At the current level of knowledge we have, I wouldn’t recommend people use it,” Karsten Hillerbiochemist at the Braunschweig Institute of Technology in Germany, says USA today.