This is certainly the case if you consume a lot of the popular sweetener erythritol.
This is according to the results of a study published in Nature Medicine.
Twice the risk
In the study, an international research team analyzed two previous studies, which examined more than 2,100 people from the US and about 830 people from Europe, respectively.
All subjects fell into the high-risk groups for heart problems and stroke due to factors such as obesity and diabetes.
The researchers compared the erythritol levels in the blood of the different subjects, and they found that the 25 percent of people with the highest levels had a much higher risk of heart attacks and strokes than the 25 percent with the lowest levels.
Measured over a three-year period, the risk of the group with the highest erythritol content was twice as high as the risk of the group with the lowest content. And that was after a correction for differences in weight and health.
The scientists then examined the effect of the sweetener in the blood.
First of all, they saw a strong correlation between the intake of food and drinks containing erythritol and the erythritol level in the blood.
To test this, eight people without an increased risk of cardiovascular disease were examined to see what happened if they consumed food containing 30 grams of erythritol, such as half a liter of low-carb ice cream.
The researchers were then able to observe that the amount of sweetener in their blood increased from approximately 4 micromol (a unit used to measure the concentration) to 6000 micromol. That level remained high for several hours.
Second, the studies showed that erythritol induced the formation of blood clots (thrombosis) in mice, and that the risk of thrombosis also increased when they added the sweetener to samples of human blood.
British Diabetes Association spokesman Duane Mellor denies New Scientist however, that the intake of the sweetener is dangerous.
He states that the vast majority of people will never ingest enough erythritol to reach the dangerous level in the blood that the researchers have taken as a starting point.
The director of the American trade association for manufacturers of artificial sweeteners, Robert Rankin, also contradicts the conclusion that the sweetener can be harmful. According to People he says CNN that “the results of these studies contradict decades of scientific research showing that low-calorie sweeteners like erythritol are safe.”