A new study has linked sugar substitutes with a greater risk of heart attack, stroke, or death and found that people who consume high amounts of artificial sweeteners may already be at risk of cardiovascular issues.
Artificial sweetener can increase risk of major cardiac event
New research by the Cleveland Clinic has found that popular artificial sweetener erythritol is associated with an increased risk of a major adverse cardiac event such as a heart attack, stroke, or death.
The new findings were published in the journal Nature Medicine in late February.
The study involved examining more than 4000 people in the United States and Europe. Researchers found that those with higher blood erythritol levels demonstrated an elevated risk of experiencing a major adverse cardiac event.
Doctors examined the effects of adding erythritol to either whole blood or isolated platelets, which are cell fragments that clump together to stop bleeding and contribute to blood clots, according to the study. Pre-clinical studies had confirmed ingestion of erythritol heightened clot formation. The results of the study revealed that erythritol made platelets easier to activate and form a clot.
“The degree of risk was not modest,” said Stanley Hazen, M.D., Ph.D., senior author of the study and chairman for the Department of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Sciences in Lerner Research Institute and co-section head of Preventive Cardiology at Cleveland Clinic, CNN reported.
According to the study, people who already had existing risk factors for heart disease were twice as likely to experience a major cardiac event if they had the highest levels of erythritol in their blood.
Doctors concerned over the growing popularity of new artificial sweeteners and their dangers
“Sweeteners like erythritol have rapidly increased in popularity in recent years but there needs to be more in-depth research into their long-term effects,” said Dr. Hazen. “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.”
How are artificial sweeteners regulated? Are they safe?
Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has minimal labeling requirements for artificial sweeteners, and therefore, individual compounds are not listed. According to the FDA, erythritol is classified as “Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS).”
The FDA has previously given a GRAS status to six other “Nonnutritive Sweeteners (NNS)”: aspartame, saccharine, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame-K, and stevia, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The FDA recently added two additional sweeteners: Swingle fruit extract and advantame.
According to the NIH, “There is a lack of properly designed randomized controlled studies to assess their efficacy in different populations, whereas observational studies often remain confounded due to reverse causality and often yield opposite findings.”
“The overall use of NNS remains controversial, and consumers should be amply informed about the potential risks of using them, based on current evidence-based dietary guidelines,” the NIH added.
Further, the NIH warns consumers that, while most NNSs are not metabolized in the body and are generally considered safe, “there are prevailing concerns over toxicity of ‘nonmetabolized’ compounds in preclinical models.”
