According to a study published today in Nature Medicine, consuming meals and drinks flavored with a popular artificial sweetener may increase your risk of heart attack and stroke.
Erythritol is a common sugar substitute found in Splenda packets, diet drinks, and low-calorie foods. The sweetener is manufactured from fermented corn and is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream.
Artificial Sweetener
Cleveland Clinic researchers examined the blood erythritol levels of over 4,000 patients in the United States and Europe. They discovered that people who had relatively high levels of erythritol in their blood had an increased risk of a serious cardiac event like a heart attack or stroke.
According to the authors, artificial sweeteners are commonly employed in sugar-free goods suggested for patients with diabetes or obesity. Since these illnesses are independently linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, it’s critical to weigh the cardiovascular hazards associated with popular sugar replacements.
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Erythritol Causes Blood Clots
Erythritol, a sugar alcohol, has no calories and can be found in small amounts in a variety of foods, including grapes, mushrooms, pears, melons, beer, cheese, sake, soy sauce, and wine.
Because it has no effect on blood glucose, sugar replacement is added to many processed foods and beverages and is widely seen in items aimed at those on the ketogenic diet. Truvia, a sweetener, also contains erythritol.
Dr. Stanley Hazen, who led the study and chairs the Cleveland Clinic’s department of cardiovascular and metabolic sciences, set out to investigate the factors that cause people to have heart attacks and strokes despite being treated for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and smoking cessation.
Around half of those who have been treated have this so-called residual cardiovascular risk. His team gathered blood from 1,157 individuals undergoing cardiac risk assessment for the study, which was published Monday in Nature Medicine.
For the next three years, they looked for chemical traces in the blood and monitored who had a heart attack, stroke, or died.
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