Popular zero-calorie sweetener erythritol can cause heart attack, stroke and death, study reveals

Erythritol, a popular sugar replacement which is used to sweeten monk fruit, keto-reduced sugar products and stevia, has been linked to heart attack, stroke, blood clotting and death, as per a new study.

“The degree of risk was not modest,” said Dr Stanley Hazen, the study's lead author and director of the Centre for Cardiovascular Diagnostics and Prevention at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute.

People who already have the risk of heart disease are twice as likely to suffer a stroke or heart attack if erythritol is present in high amounts in their blood, claimed the study, published in the journal Nature Medicine.

“If your blood level of erythritol was in the top 25 per cent compared to the bottom 25 per cent, there was about a two-fold higher risk for heart attack and stroke. It’s on par with the strongest of cardiac risk factors, like diabetes,” said Hazen.

In the paper, the additional lab and animal research discovered that erythritol causes blood platelets to clot more easily. These blood clots can break off and move towards the heart, causing a heart attack, or enter the brain, leading to a stroke.

“This certainly sounds an alarm. There appears to be a clotting risk from using erythritol," said Dr Andrew Freeman, the Director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health, Denver. "Obviously, more research is needed, but in an abundance of caution, it might make sense to limit erythritol in your diet for now.”

What is sweetener erythritol?

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol just like sorbitol and xylitol. It is found in various vegetables and fruits and has around 70 per cent of the sweetness of sugar and is said to be zero-calorie.

It is manufactured artificially in massive quantities and it does not increase blood sugar and carries comparatively less laxative effect compared to other sugar alcohols.

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“Erythritol looks like sugar, it tastes like sugar, and you can bake with it,” Hazen said.

“It’s become the sweetheart of the food industry, an extremely popular additive to keto and other low-carb products and foods marketed to people with diabetes. Some of the diabetes-labelled foods we looked at had more erythritol than any other item by weight,” he added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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