Zero calorie sweetener linked to heart attack and stroke, study finds:

[hippywife]

Just in case anyone missed this: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1142&pid=30456

Great! It's erythritol, the stuff they bulk up tons of different sweeteners with and don't tell you it's in there unless you read the ingredients.

[samplegirl]

1. Great

use so many Zero sugar products.

[hippywife]

2. I know! Between this and...

heavy metals in dark cocoa, I'm pretty much screwed.

[PennyC]

3. Well, this warning is just for people with heart conditions.

The article specifically says that it shouldn't apply to the general population. I use it to make ice cream, and I'm not giving up my ice-cream bar midnight snack.

[Major Nikon]

5. The study also found effects with healthy people

Finally, in a prospective pilot intervention study (NCT04731363), erythritol ingestion in healthy volunteers (n = 8) induced marked and sustained (>2 d) increases in plasma erythritol levels well above thresholds associated with heightened platelet reactivity and thrombosis potential in in vitro and in vivo studies. Our findings reveal that erythritol is both associated with incident MACE risk and fosters enhanced thrombosis. Studies assessing the long-term safety of erythritol are warranted.

Basically what the study is theorizing is erythritol causes clotting and thrombosis and you don't need to have a heart condition for thrombosis to kill you. Exactly what that risk is the study doesn't answer.

[hippywife]

6. No it doesn't.

The whole beginning of the article is addressing it in general, then talks about comparative risks, indicating no one is safe ingesting it.

"People with existing risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, were twice as likely to experience a heart attack or stroke if they had the highest levels of erythritol in their blood, according to the study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.

Five natural alternatives to sugar

“If your blood level of erythritol was in the top 25% compared to the bottom 25%, there was about a two-fold higher risk for heart attack and stroke. It’s on par with the strongest of cardiac risk factors, like diabetes,” Hazen said."

[Major Nikon]

4. Anything with sugar alcohols gives me a wicked case of the farts

By this I mean both quantity and quality are greatly increased.

Sugar alcohols include Xylitol, Erythritol, Sorbitol or Maltitol. I avoid them all.

[Warpy]

8. That's not a bug, it's a feature

that makes certain you don't overdo them.

[Warpy]

7. Please note that this is a specific sugar alcohol

and not all sugar alcohols or other zero calorie sweeteners across the board.

These fad diets are all a con, anyway, and you know they're almost over when they start to cheat, like trying to make zero carb foods sweet. When that happens, you know a lot of people have cracked and quit and they're trying to hang onto as many other people as they can, and by "they," I'm meaning the processed foods folks pushing the diets.

So every time another miracle diet appears, watch your food stamps, kids.

[hippywife]

9. I'm less likely

to trust any of them given this. There are already certain ones I've never trusted.

[PennyC]

10. Reducing sugar and junk carbs is not a fad

It does look like I may have to find a better sweetener, but I'm not going to add crap "natural" foods to my diet.

[Warpy]

11. Oh, my

Cutting down on simple sugars is good. Cutting down (or better, cutting out) processed foods with trans fat is good. Whole grains, which you seem to be dismissing with extreme prejudice, help regulate a lot of things most people don't consider, like blood sugar.

Fad diets are the ones out there whose adherents have almost Messianic zeal as they promise consistent weight loss and longevity that Methusaleh would envy. You do know when they've run their course when food processors find ways for those adherents to cheat, like putting sugar alcohols into heavily processed proteins to try to fool people that they're sticking to their diets.

I've had 76 years of watching this shit come and go, my poor mother was a sucker for every one that came along and I'd watch her crack after a few weeks on all of them and gain back everything she'd lost on semi starvation plus a few more pounds every time. This shit does.not.work. Finding a reasonable eating pattern and sticking to it does. Deprivation dieting never will.

Our bodies are designed to accept a certain amount of junk, which makes holidays and birthdays more interesting. Trying to eat like that 24.7 gets us into trouble.

[PennyC]

12. OK

I've been following a low-carb diet on and off for decades, and more recently, have stuck to it carefully. I eat proteins, fats, lots of veggies, and a small amount of Frankenstuff like sweeteners and bread-ish stuff. 90% of my intake is home-made dishes, almost no prepared crap. And there's no semi-starvation involved.
My numbers are great and I will continue to eat this way forever. It keeps my weight where i like it, and my energy levels good. I don't consider it a fad diet.

[Old Crank]

13. My only use for artificial sweeteners

Is when I sweeten my iced tea. I use regular sugar or Splenda. I can taste the others and don't like the after taste. Would like to find some in Germany. Just cuts a few calories.

[hippywife]

14. Just to add to this a little...

on Tuesday, the day after this post, I had to go into the hospital for out-patient angiogram. The last time I went in 2017, they had to place a stent, and so I had to stay the night rather than just go home afterwards. I was fully expecting that to happen again, but thankfully it didn't. Still the last place I wanted to be was in a possibly COVID filled hospital!

Anyway, my cardiologist told my husband that there was only 15% plaque build-up, so he didn't have to perform any interventions (I have to see him in 3 weeks to get the info straight from the horse's mouth.) This was surprising given the symptoms I was having: about a handful of times the past 6 mos or so, I was hit smack in the sternum with a really strong pain, not sharp - but hard. It traveled from there up into my shoulders, and down to my elbows, one time it dissipated as a strong tingling up my neck into my head. (I know, I know...should have gone to the cardiologist the first time, not the fourth, but see above re: COVID. I'd also just had an echo-cardiogram and an ABI (ultrasound to monitor the circulation in my extremities) and had already been there several times the past month with good results from those tests.

It just dawned on me this morning (I can be a little slow at times), that these occurrences also coincide with when I started using stevia bulked with erythritol. Guess it's time to figure out something else, but there's little I trust anymore.

Was this the cause? I dunno. Possibly?

[PennyC]

15. Wow -- you never know.

I have random aches and muscle cramps ( I AM 72) but I just blame everything on cancer treatment and the surgeries afterwards. There's so much we don't know and adding new foodstuffs can definitely be a factor.

There are other new sweeteners...I've been trying allulose, a rare sugar that is in some fruits, and it's pretty good. i see that Swerve, the biggest seller of erythritol, already changd their website to promote the other things they sell.

I remember that in his early books, De. Atkins was pissed that US banned cyclamates based on limited studies that is still considered just fine in Canada. There were few options at the time and anything was better than saccharine!

[hippywife]

16. Yeah, Dr. Atkins was a quack.

My own doctor put my onto him as a way to lose weight when I was in my early 20s. Sure you can lose weight and really enjoy your meals if you only eat protein and little to no carbs! It does work, but seems putting your body into constant ketosis (not its natural state) there are prices to pay. I've suffered for it ever since with uric acid kidney stones about once every year to year and a half because my body no longer handles elimination of urea very well. Thankfully, I've been able to get that under better control for a while and now only get them about every 3 years.

[PennyC]

17. I am very sorry to hear this.

I respectfully disagree, however. Take care.

[hippywife]

18. No one in my family...

going back at least a couple generations ever developed ANY kind of kidney stones at all, let alone uric acid. Since then, two have - the two, out of a family of eight, that followed me on that diet. None of my aunts, uncles, or cousins have had them, either. And doctors do agree, constant ketosis is not something to put your body through. It's an adaptive biological safety valve to help you survive in times of starvation, not a lifestyle.

More here:
https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/health-and-wellness-articles/ketogenic-diet-what-are-the-risks


Is the keto diet safe?

The keto diet could cause low blood pressure, kidney stones, constipation, nutrient deficiencies and an increased risk of heart disease. Strict diets like keto could also cause social isolation or disordered eating. Keto is not safe for those with any conditions involving their pancreas, liver, thyroid or gallbladder.