Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic sounded an alarm that went viral about the dangers of Erythritol, a zero-calorie sugar substitute. In a study of 4000+ subjects, researchers tracked their health over time to measure the amount of various compounds in the body. They found that those who had higher amounts of erythritol in their blood were at an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and even death.
Is it the erythritol causing cardiovascular disease (CVD)?
There’s noise in the data in that correlation doesn’t mean causation. The subjects in the study were at high risk for CVD, and it didn’t measure dietary erythritol. It measured endogenous (made in the body) erythritol, which can occur when you metabolize sugar, have oxidative stress or belly fat. The findings in this study perhaps should not be extrapolated to the general population.
Honestly, I’d be more alarmed by the percentage of industrially manufactured ultra-processed foods made available and consumed in the U.S. The standard America diet known as SAD really is ‘sad.’ Ultra-processed foods are stripped of nutrition and fiber, and replaced with excess sugar, harmful seed oils, preservatives and other food additives. Long term, this leads to chronic disease states, hospitalizations, and surgeries that could have been prevented with a real food diet (foods without a barcode). The U.S. may have the best medical technology & innovation, but we spend a lot more on healthcare than other countries.
Now, Erythritol is a natural sweetener without the sugar spike.
People at higher risk for cardiovascular disease are likely looking for options to manage sugar intake. Ordering a diet beverage with a cheeseburger and fries isn’t going to mitigate chronic disease. However, eating a nutrient dense, real food diet with an occasional erythritol sweetened dessert may help satisfy a sweet tooth without the blood sugar spike.
Other studies found a benefit of consuming erythritol. Administration of erythritol to mice that were fed a high-fat diet had significantly decreased metabolic disorders such as diet-induced obesity, glucose tolerance, dyslipidemia, and fat accumulation in the liver. Another study had promise in that erythritol acts as an antioxidant that may help protect against hyperglycemia-induced vascular damage.
While it’s probably best practice to avoid having all your meals laden with erythritol, perhaps it’s our standard American diet that’s hard on the heart, leading to cardiovascular disease, that raises blood levels of erythritol rather than the other way around.
Resources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8197374/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0899900709002275