CBS NEWS – Erythritol, a sugar substitute commonly used in keto-friendly and other reduced-sugar products, may increase risk for negative cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke, according to new research from the Cleveland Clinic.
Consuming a “standard serving” of 30 grams of the sweetener — a dose “typically contained in a ‘sugarless’ soda or muffin,” according to a news release — made platelets more active in healthy participants, which can raise the risk of blood clots, researchers found in the interventional study, published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology on Thursday. Sugar did not have the same effect.
Sugar-free products containing erythritol are often recommended for people with obesity, diabetes or metabolic syndrome as ways to manage sugar and calorie intake.
Erythritol is one ingredient in the common calorie-free stevia sweetener Truvia, for example. People with these conditions are already at higher risk for adverse cardiovascular events such as stroke.
“Cardiovascular disease builds over time, and heart disease is the leading cause of death globally. We need to make sure the foods we eat aren’t hidden contributors,” senior author Dr. Stanley Hazen said in a news release.
“These findings underscore the importance of further long-term clinical studies to assess the cardiovascular safety of erythritol and other sugar substitutes.”
The study did have limitations, the authors said, including a small size (20 volunteers total, half of whom consumed erythritol) and lack of long-term testing, emphasizing the importance of further research.
Currently, erythritol is classified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as GRAS — “generally recognized as safe”— allowing its use without restriction in food products …
