Erythritol is in the news again, this time a very small study at the Cleveland Clinic indicating it more than doubled the risk of blood clotting.
The study, published Aug. 8 in the medical journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, found the sweetener and bulking agent made blood platelets more active, increasing the risk of blood clots, while food sweetened with sugar did not have the same effect.
The study involved only 20 people, apparently. The 10 “healthy” people who were given water sweetened with erythritol showed signs their blood platelets had been activated, while people who drank water with glucose had no similar signs.
“What is remarkable is that in every single subject, every measure of platelet responsiveness (clotting) went up following the erythritol ingestion,” said lead study author Stanley Hazen, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Diagnostics and Prevention at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, quoted by CNN.
However, “Consumers should rigorously assess and interpret this pilot study to avoid misleading claims about health implications,” said Carla Saunders, President, Calorie Control Council. “It has an extremely small sample size, a total of 10, a single measurement point after baseline, and a lack of lifestyle factor consideration, combined with excessive erythritol consumption compared to the typical amount found in standard serving sizes, which limits its reliability. For more than 30 years, global authorities have repeatedly confirmed the safety and efficacy of erythritol and other low and no-calorie sweeteners.”
In February of 2023, Cleveland Clinic published results of a study of more than 4,000 people in the U.S. and Europe that found people who had more erythritol in their blood were at elevated risk for major heart problems.
Clots can break off blood vessels and travel to the heart, triggering a heart attack, or to the brain, triggering a stroke. Prior studies have linked erythritol to a higher risk of stroke, heart attack and death.
