Erythritol: The sugar substitute linked to sticky blood and stroke

There’s a bitter truth about sugar.

Its effects aren’t so sweet. It starts by turning the body against its master hormone, insulin. And while blood sugar problems are developing below the surface, above the surface extra weight and inches begin to appear.

That’s why so many of us shun sugar and turn to no-calorie or low-calorie sweeteners.

However, like the sugar cartel, the sweetener industry has a dirty little secret all of its own.

When it comes to your health, sweeteners aren’t all they’re cracked up to be…

In fact, fake sweeteners, like aspartame, sucralose and saccharine, have already been linked to everything from heart disease to asthma and autoimmune disorders.

Yet, there’s one you may think is a safe alternative – erythritol – a sugar alcohol that’s been making its way into more and more low-sugar, sugar-free and keto reduced-sugar products.

But don’t be fooled…

According to researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, erythritol could simply be one more bitter health danger disguised as a sweet treat.

Sugar substitute leads to sticky blood

It’s easy to see why erythritol may have been identified as a safer alternative to sugar in the beginning. It’s naturally present in fruits and vegetables — but in very small amounts. But processed low-sugar, sugar-free and no-carb foods can contain amounts of the sugar alcohol that are 1,000-fold higher!

So what dangerous secret is erythritol hiding?

Sticky blood and a dramatically increased risk for a cardiovascular event!

Yup, those Cleveland researchers studied over 4,000 people altogether in the U.S. and Europe, comparing blood levels of erythritol levels to heart dangers and the results were frightening.

Here’s a breakdown of the most important facts:

• In a group of 1,157 participants who agreed to undergo tests at a cardiovascular clinic, those with the highest erythritol levels had twice the risk of dying from or experiencing a major cardiovascular event, like a heart attack or stroke, in the next three years.
• After volunteers consumed an erythritol-sweetened drink, their blood levels of the compound peaked and remained high for two to three days before returning to normal. These levels were well above the value known to increase risk of blood clots.
• When erythritol was added to whole blood samples blood stickiness and other measures associated with blood clotting increased markedly, confirming that the sweetener heightens dangerous clot formation.

“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 senior author Stanley Hazen, M.D., Ph.D.

Erythritol is also the largest ingredient by weight in many stevia and monk fruit products where it is used as a filler, according to Dr. Hazen.

Support healthy blood flow

So what can you do if you’ve been regularly using a sweetener or eating a food that contains erythritol because you believed it was a healthier alternative?

For starters, I hope you’ll give it up — right away. And until we know more about any lingering effects, let me share some circulation 101 with you…

Clotting of the blood is a normal bodily function. When things go as planned, blood clots any time there is an injury to a blood vessel, such as when you cut yourself. Tiny bits in your blood called platelets get “turned on” when an artery or vein is damaged. They stick to the walls of the blood vessel, and to each other, forming a plug that stops blood from leaking out.

Special proteins keep the clot from spreading farther than it needs to. And as the damaged tissue heals and the clot isn’t needed anymore, it dissolves back into the blood.

But sometimes the clotting process doesn’t go like it’s supposed to… whether erythritol is to blame or not. So, instead of risking it, I promote healthy blood flow naturally with nattokinase.

Nattokinase is an all-natural enzyme discovered over 40 years ago by a Japanese medical researcher named Hiyosuki Sumi, M.D.  It was isolated from a traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans called “natto” and demonstrated the ability to support healthy blood flow.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: avoid the processed foods, the additives (as much as you can) and the artificial “this and that’s.” It’s a jungle out there.

Sources:

Popular Artificial Sweetener Appears to Make Blood ‘Stickier’, Linked to Stroke Risk – Microsoft Start

Cleveland Clinic study finds common artificial sweetener linked to higher rates of heart attack and stroke – EurekAlert!