While there are certain sugar substitutes we see used in baked goods and packaged treats at the store as a way to lower the sugar content, there’s still a lot we don’t know about how these types of ingredients affect our long-term health. For example, aspartame has been labeled as “possibly carcinogenic,” yet there is very little (if any) evidence linking the ingredient to a cancer diagnosis. Then there’s an ingredient like erythritol, which, according to a new study published by the Cleveland Clinic, might put consumers at a higher risk of blood clots, which means an increased risk of heart disease.
According to the study, published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic evaluated 20 volunteers who, after consuming food and drinks with erythritol, had in an increase in blood clot formation versus consuming products with normal glucose.
“This research raises some concerns that a standard serving of an erythritol-sweetened food or beverage may acutely stimulate a direct clot-forming effect,” said study co-author W. H. Wilson Tang, MD, research director for Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Medicine at Cleveland Clinic. “Erythritol and other sugar alcohols that are commonly used as sugar substitutes should be evaluated for potential long-term health effects — especially when such effects are not seen with glucose itself.”
This study is followed by a previous study published in Nature Medicine, which stated that high erythritol levels in the blood could increase the risk of a person experiencing a major cardiac event in their lifetime. Another study also found that consuming the common artificial sweetener xylitol also increased the risk of heart disease.
“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,” said another study co-author Stanley Hazen, MD, PhD, chair of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences in Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute and co-section head of Preventive Cardiology.
For now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as the European Food Safety Authority, recognizes erythritol as a “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) ingredient. This study was relatively small and there’s still a lot to learn about the long-term effects of erythritol, yet these researchers are urging food regulatory agencies to reevaluate the ingredient, which is commonly used in low-calorie and low-carbohydrate grocery products.
