This ‘healthy’ ingredient you are probably eating could give you a stroke
If you’ve had a protein bar that wasn’t inedible, it’s probably because of the erythritol. Erythritol is a low-calorie sweetener that has found its way into a wide variety of prepackaged foods in recent years. It’s a convincing enough substitute for sugar, especially in health foods that typically remind you that health usually tastes like misery.
It’s just too bad it could give you a stroke.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have found that erythritol can change how blood vessels in the brain work, potentially increasing the risk of stroke. In laboratory experiments, researchers exposed human brain blood vessel cells to an amount of erythritol equivalent to a single serving of a sugar-free drink. Within hours, the cells began to change in ways that were worrisome.
This popular sugar substitute can give you a stroke
They produced less nitric oxide, which helps blood vessels relax, and more endothelin-1, which causes them to constrict. At the same time, oxidative stress increased significantly with higher levels of harmful free radicals. It can be hard to follow, but the short version is that erythritol does several things to your body that combine to create the perfect storm to induce a stroke.
Things only get worse when it comes to blood clots. The study found that erythritol reduced the cells’ ability to produce a compound that naturally dissolves blood clots, making your body less efficient at breaking them down, which is a major cause of stroke.
This is not an isolated finding either. This study helps explain previous research that was part of a 4,000-person study that linked higher blood levels of erythritol to increased risk of heart attack and stroke within three years. The first fairly large study established a link, and now this study from the University of Boulder is one step closer to establishing a firm link between erythritol and stroke.
There is still more research to be done before this connection can be established. Some researchers point out that erythritol is also produced naturally by the body, especially during metabolic stress such as obesity or diabetes, meaning that elevated levels may reflect an underlying health problem rather than a dietary problem alone.
But so far, the science on it seems to at least mildly suggest that while erythritol might not be immediately dangerous, it might not be wise to call it harmless either.
