Fat Metabolism

Erythritol, Stevia and Heart Attacks: Media Botched Study Findings

by Mike Mutzel

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According to the media, erythritol purportedly causes heart attacks. In actuality, metabolically unhealthy people convert glucose to erythritol. Here's the details about high blood levels of erythritol and heart disease.

 

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Time Stamps:

00:00 Erythritol is a zero-calorie sugar-free sweetener.

00:40 Blood levels of erythritol were independently associated with a higher risk for having a future cardiovascular-related event over the course of the study.

01:00 In obesity and metabolic disease, glucose and fructose are converted into erythritol.

02:40 The study did not test for erythritol consumption, just blood levels and outcomes.

03:20 8 test subjects consumed 30 gm of erythritol per day for seven days and had higher blood levels of erythritol.

05:10 Sucralose, aspartame, and Ace-K have challenges.

05:25 Stevia, monk fruit, and xylitol offer a little sweet taste and can be used in moderation.

05:58 Preloading with a stevia-sweetened beverage before lunch decreased post meal glucose and reduced appetite.

06:30 Consuming stevia and monk fruit favorably effects blood sugar control.

References:

Hootman, K. C. et al. Erythritol is a pentose-phosphate pathway metabolite and associated with adiposity gain in young adults. Proc National Acad Sci 114, E4233–E4240 (2017).

Witkowski, M., Nemet, I., Alamri, H. et al. The artificial sweetener erythritol and cardiovascular event risk. Nat Med (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02223-9

Stamataki, N. S. et al. Stevia Beverage Consumption prior to Lunch Reduces Appetite and Total Energy Intake without Affecting Glycemia or Attentional Bias to Food Cues: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial in Healthy Adults. J Nutrition 150, 1126–1134 (2020).

Chowdhury, A. I. et al. Effect of stevia leaves (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) on diabetes: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of preclinical studies. Food Sci Nutrition 10, 2868–2878 (2022).

3 Comments

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  1. You didn’t really point out the effects of Stevia Leaf extract to the cardio effects such as increase of blood clots.
    We are older (79) and used Stevia for some time and stopped using (several years ago) after a TIA event.

    Al

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  2. Thank you for breaking this down. I had heard the headline and got worried, because I use this in my coffee each day, but I really appreciate you going to the scientific article itself and analyzing it directly. This gives me some reassurance that as long as I don’t go overboard, it’ll be fine.

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  3. Don’t you think reduced post-postprandial blood glucose level is actually (possibly) indicative of a worse outcome: that stevia and other sweeteners can elicit an insulin response, thereby shuttling glucose out of the blood stream and producing this result? There are studies showing that blood insulin levels after stevia spike later and at a higher level than after a glucose load.

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