Yet another health warning over an artificial sweetener. This time it’s erythritol. The news appears to confirm and refine earlier findings that showed erythritol associated with risk of strokes, heart attacks and death. And now we know why…
What it is
According to the US National Institutes of Health, eythritol is approximately 70 percent as sweet as sugar. Therefore, you have to use more to equal the sweetening effect of the same amount of sugar. But more to the point, closely mimics the flavour profile of real sugar. Which makes it popular as a sugar substitute. Not perfect, but close. It’s found commercially in, among other products, Truvia sweetener, Quest nutrition bars, Halo Top ice cream, as well as some popular keto-themed foods and additives.
“[It] is naturally found in small amounts in some fruits and fermented foods,” adds Scott Keatley, RD, co-founder of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy.
The study
The new study compared two groups, one of which was given 30 grams of erythritol, and another which was given 30 grams of sugar after fasting overnight. Blood samples were drawn 30 minutes after the subjects consumed the sweeteners.
Lab tests revealed that those in the erythritol group showed changes in ‘platelet reactivity’ compared to those in the sugar group. In plain English, the erythritol group was (temporarily, at least) more than twice as likely as the sugar group to suffer blood clotting.
Clotting is a key factor in most strokes and heart attacks. Clots form in the bloodstream and travel until they lodge in a vessel too small for them to pass through. The result is oxygen deprivation of the organ(s) beyond the clot. This affect may show up as thrombosis in the arms or legs. But it often reveals itself as strokes or cardiac arrests. That’s why stroke and cardiac victims are immediately treated with blood thinners – to dissolve any clots that may be present.
My take
I have a few bones to pick with the new study.
First, the subject groups were very small by accepted lab study standards. The researchers only looked at blood test results from 10 erythritol-takers and the same number of sugar water-drinkers. Nevertheless, their results showed a marked difference in response between the two groups.
My second observation is that the amounts of erythritol and sugar given to the test groups was pretty large. The ‘dose’, 30 grams, is the equivalent of 2 tablespoons of sweetener. Who (aside, maybe, from a sugar-addicted kid dosing their breakfast cereal) would consume that much all at once, at any point in their usual daily routines?
I suggest – based on my own analysis of many such test results – that a longitudinal study involving hundreds of subjects would yield more accurate stats. And do9ses of erythritol should be based on equivalents of sugar in normal normal portions of daily foods.
Remember those early tests on artificial sweeteners, in which researchers subjected mice to doses of the substances that would have been excessive even for humans? Of course, they produced ‘alarming’ results…
~ Maggie J.