A popular \u201cnatural\u201d sugar substitute found in thousands of diet foods and drinks might be doing us more harm than good, a new study has found.<\/p>\n
Research from the University of Colorado has shown that erythritol, a low-calorie sweetener, might be linked to an increased risk of stroke and also damaging the brain\u2019s protective barrier. <\/p>\n
The sugar substitute was analysed during lab experiments and found to impair key functions in human blood vessel cells.<\/p>\n
This adds to pre-existing research that connected higher circulating erythritol levels with an increased risk of \u201cmajor adverse cardiovascular events\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), is an all-encompassing term for acute coronary syndrome or heart disease, stroke, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and cardiovascular death. <\/p>\n
Usually formulated as a white powder \u2014 and looking strikingly similar to sugar \u2014 erythritol is said to be about 60 to 70 per cent as sweet as sugar. <\/p>\n
However, it contains no calories, and won\u2019t spike blood sugar or cause tooth decay.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s mostly found in \u2018sugar-free\u2019, \u2018diet\u2019 or \u2018keto-friendly\u2019 products, which can range from ice cream and baked goods to energy and soft drinks.<\/p>\n
How erythritol may damage the brain<\/p>\n
The blood-brain barrier is a semipermeable membrane that protects the brain by blocking harmful substances from getting through.<\/p>\n
Erythritol is seen to affect this barrier in a few ways.<\/p>\n
Firstly, it was seen to cause a surge in oxidative stress, which overwhelms the cells\u2019 natural defences. <\/p>\n
Despite an increased response in antioxidant proteins, the damage wasn\u2019t neutralised.<\/p>\n
Secondly, during exercise, blood vessels will widen to allow for more oxygen to flow to the organs. <\/p>\n
Erythritol disrupted this system, leaving blood vessels constricted even as the brain requires more blood.<\/p>\n
Thirdly, erythritol was also found to sabotage the body\u2019s emergency response to blood clots, which leaves them at risk of blocking vessels.<\/p>\n
Laboratory results from 2023 also showed that people with the \u201chighest quartile\u201d of erythritol in their blood had a higher risk of \u201cmajor adverse cardiovascular events\u201d compared with those in the lowest quartile.<\/p>\n
While the university team and independent researchers have clarified that further study would need to take place to \u201cidentify consumption thresholds\u201d that would lead to risk of stroke, it\u2019s good to be aware of the risks associated with artificial sweeteners.<\/p>\n
This way, you can feel less bad about reaching for the sugar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A popular \u201cnatural\u201d sugar substitute found in thousands of diet foods and drinks might be doing us more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[193391,79789,193404,4587,193401,163096,193400,2840,18614,6458,193407,12082,100810,49,48,193396,193398,193392,94888,193403,57781,84,69544,193405,1955,193395,193410,193406,193397,193390,193409,22751,1671,5185,395,18600,193394,193393,21425,193402,48099,193408,1856,181,71677,193399],"class_list":{"0":"post-476757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-acute-coronary-syndrome","9":"tag-adult-population","10":"tag-adverse-cardiovascular-events","11":"tag-america","12":"tag-antioxidant-proteins","13":"tag-artificial-sweeteners","14":"tag-aussie-parent","15":"tag-australia","16":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","17":"tag-blood-sugar","18":"tag-blood-vessel-cells","19":"tag-blood-vessels","20":"tag-blood-brain-barrier","21":"tag-ca","22":"tag-canada","23":"tag-consumption-thresholds","24":"tag-diet-item","25":"tag-elli-tamar","26":"tag-emergency-response","27":"tag-erin-christie","28":"tag-food-pyramid","29":"tag-health","30":"tag-health-risks","31":"tag-healthy-food-options","32":"tag-heart-disease","33":"tag-human-blood-vessel","34":"tag-independent-researchers","35":"tag-jaimee-rogers","36":"tag-key-functions","37":"tag-lab-experiments","38":"tag-low-calorie-sweetener","39":"tag-new-south-wales","40":"tag-north-america","41":"tag-northern-america","42":"tag-nutrition","43":"tag-oceania","44":"tag-options-aussie-mum","45":"tag-research-shows","46":"tag-robert-f-kennedy","47":"tag-semi-permeable-membrane","48":"tag-sky-news","49":"tag-sugar-free-goods","50":"tag-sydney","51":"tag-united-states-of-america","52":"tag-university-of-colorado","53":"tag-university-team"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}