2024-09-03 13:17:32
Too much sugar is extremely harmful to your health. Many people therefore turn to alternatives such as erythritol. But researchers are now warning against this substitute.
In order to save sugar but still not forego sweetness, many people use so-called sugar substitutes. They taste sweet but only provide a fraction of the calories of normal household sugar. Erythritol is one of the most popular sugar alternatives and is also often used by the food industry to reduce the sugar and calorie content of products.
Now a study by the Charité in Berlin and the Cleveland Clinic in the USA has come to the conclusion that erythritol could increase the risk of thrombosis and heart attacks. The study was published in the journal “Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology”.
Erythritol, also known as erythritol or E 968, is an artificial sweetener that has been used in numerous foods and drinks since the 1990s. It is a so-called sugar alcohol. It is about 70 percent as sweet as sugar, but contains significantly fewer calories. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies erythritol as safe, but in recent years there has been increasing evidence of possible health risks.
In the current study, the researchers examined the effects of erythritol in a small group of healthy adults in more detail. They first analyzed the blood plasma of each participant to determine platelet activity. Then one group drank 30 grams of erythritol and the other participants consumed 30 grams of regular sugar. According to the FDA, 30 grams of erythritol corresponds to the average amount that a person in the USA consumes per day. After 30 minutes, the subjects’ plasma was examined again to determine platelet activity.
The result: In the participants who had consumed erythritol, its concentration in the blood was greatly increased over several days, and the likelihood of blood platelets clumping increased significantly. The so-called erythritol level was “significantly above the threshold values” associated with an increased thrombosis potential, explains study author Dr. Marco Witkowski, a specialist at the Department of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the German Heart Center at the Charité.
An increased tendency of blood platelets to clump together is a major health risk. This is because blood clots (thrombi) can form. If they block a blood vessel, this can lead to dangerous complications such as (leg vein) thrombosis, a stroke or heart attack, a pulmonary embolism or other complications.
Dr. Stanley Hazen, study co-author and cardiovascular medicine physician at the Cleveland Clinic, advocates consuming products sweetened with sugar rather than those sweetened with sugar alcohols, provided that they are consumed only occasionally and in moderation.
The new study builds on previous research by the team from the Charité and the Cleveland Clinic. Last year, they published a study in which they examined blood plasma samples from more than 4,000 participants. The study suggested a link between high erythritol levels and an increased rate of heart attacks and strokes.
For the authors, one thing is clear: Together with the previous indications, the current results justify a discussion about whether erythritol should continue to be considered “safe” as a food additive.
The cardiologist and chairman of the German Heart Foundation, Prof. Dr. Thomas Voigtländer, explains: “The results make it clear that highly processed foods containing the sugar substitute erythritol can pose health risks, especially for vulnerable people.” According to Dr. Hazen, these vulnerable people primarily include people with heart disease, diabetes or metabolic syndrome, as they already have an increased risk of thrombosis.
Anyone suffering from thrombosis should seek treatment quickly. However, the danger of the disease is not so easy to recognize. A thrombosis risk test can help.
- Read also: Xylitol apparently increases the risk of heart problems
The study team has yet to identify exactly how erythritol appears to promote blood clotting, but Hazen believes it may have something to do with “receptors on the surface of a platelet that interact with the erythritol.” Such an interaction could change the way platelets process signals about when to clump together.
Scientists who were not involved in the study, however, assessed the results with caution. “This study did not examine long-term exposure to erythritol in food,” explains nutritionist Duane Mellor in “Scientific American.”
The data should be used as an important indication to further examine erythritol and other sugar substitutes in comprehensive long-term studies, explains Alice Lichtenstein in the “Scientific American”. She is head of the cardiovascular nutrition team at the Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. According to the scientist, however, many questions are still unanswered.