For anyone else wondering why the thread hasn’t mentioned the substitute in question: Erythritol.
Sorbitol and Malitol give me the runs
Wow, hard to find monkfruit sweetener without erythritol. It’s in a lot of baked sweets too.
It’s one study and as always, correlation does not imply causation.
It’s a bit more complicated than that. Notably, they found similar results in a different data set after the initial data led to the hypothesis. They also have put some effort into demonstrating a potential mechanism of action. Regardless, there absolutely needs to be independent follow-up.
I would say if anyone is concerned about it, maybe stay away from foods with massive amounts of sugar alcohols if you can (there certainly are some). I feel like if modest amounts had a significant impact, it would have turned up in other studies, because they have been in wide use for a long time.
Fundamentally, if you’re trying to avoid sugar (or need to, for medical reasons), you’re best off actually avoiding sugary things, and not just replacing them with a differently sweetened variant. But as someone who’s still a huge soda addict and needs to avoid sugar, I know that’s easier said than done.
I eat a good bit of the stuff, as it’s the ‘go-to’ sweetener for many people on a keto diet. Not ‘added to processed foods’ though as the article says the study focused on, but added to whole foods.
Allulose seems to be slowly taking over now, which I don’t think is a sugar alcohol. I’d switch but it’s not legal here in Au yet!
Should check this study isn’t funded by Big Allulose! ;)
Allulose is great. I’ve used it for a number of things, though the one real baking thing I tried didn’t work quite as intended. I like to add a bit of AceK and/or sucralose to help round out the sweetness.
My nutritionist, along with everyone else I talked too pretty much, recommended avoiding artificial sweeteners entirely. Along with avoiding refined sugar as much as possible too, of course. There is a strong body of evidence, certainly a strong critical mass of opinion, that for many people foods with these sugar substitutes still cause the body to act just as if it was getting refined sugar. It’s one reason why diet sodas, etc. don’t help with weight loss generally, or so the theory goes.
All I know is that when I stopped using Splenda et al a few years ago, I immediately felt better and found it easier to lose weight or maintain a weight. At this point, I cannot stand the taste of artificial sugars at all. I don’t drink soda, period, and my sugar mostly comes from actual fruit, though I do indulge occasionally in treats made with actual sugar, though not many.
I eat Erythritol quite a bit as it’s my coffee sweetener.
As sweeteners have gone from very low use to insanely popular over the past decade, this finding would surely mean the overall number of strokes and heart attacks has gone way up?
But also so hard to separate from background health data.
There very well could be something there, but the thread title makes it sound like it’s definitive. The article had a perfectly reasonable alternate hypothesis as to why the correlation would exist. People who have heart/health problems are more likely to try to switch to a healthier diet and be more likely to then consume artificial sweeteners.
But yes, cutting sweeteners out entirely is better for a lot of reasons, it’s also really hard for a lot of people.
Regardless, that platelet effect they speculate is the cause seems worth looking into for potential benefits too.
Same here. For keto people it’s a common substitute for sugar in baking, and in things like monkfruit sweetener as a bulking agent (since monkfruit is very sweet). I’m going to re-evaluate my use of it and try to cut back. Too much sugar alcohol ingestion is pretty rough on the gut so I don’t think I eat a ton of it.
According to the summary I read on CNN, it seemed to increase blood clot formation so I’m hoping that taking a blood pressure medicine (which helps prevent clots) might help to counteract the erythritol’s effects.
It does look like Allulose might be a decent substitute. I’ve got some here and maybe I’ll give it a shot when I next bake something.
For those interested in the actual article about this study:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02223-9.epdf?sharing_token=k-Rcy1AI_47QDaN4IYrv2tRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MTnVt_Yzm2YDkmKtSZJOysYZlROr0ymfAdj9yPHH8bMVWpKjhPzPeMT8zTG9DpNMmnfRfOqNqOH8PhwI2X9sxfHMa-Tpawl-dyIWq9WdTUO2lqDJWIHLoFK3aG5AGi1Yg1zHmeYpNKpcP0rJEwRuXM-UwQ_iUx2TdtuE39badalw%3D%3D
It’s worth mentioning here, I suppose, that some of these artificial sweeteners are extremely toxic to dogs:
Xylitol is NOT to be consumed by dogs in any amount. It is not only dangerous but has been proven to be fatal.
It’s weird how chocolate is the one toxic to dogs food everyone knows and fears but things like Xylitol and grapes/raisins are way worse and way less commonly known.
There are really tons of things that are toxic to pets.
Avocados are another good one – the skins, in particular. They kill pretty much everything except humans.
If it tastes good, it’s bad for you.
That US News article is like a journalism joke article.
Headline is a question.
You have insane wording like:
The investigators followed that up with another study of 2,149 Americans and 833 Europeans, which found that Americans with the highest circulating levels of erythritol were 80% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke, while Europeans with heavy erythritol levels were 2.2 times more likely.
ah yes, 80% vs 2.2 times great comparison.
The real kicker on this one, is that they have at least a hypothesis on causation, which needs to be further investigated. It is a single study, and it focused on people with heart issues already, and over the age of 65. This is a high risk group already.
Definitely needs more research, and I would personally try to avoid products containing erythritol, particularly because they have at least a hypothesis for causation.