Artificial Sweetener Xylitol May Also Be Linked To Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds (cnn.com) 67
CNN reports that the low-calorie sweetener xylitol used "may be linked to nearly twice the risk of heart attacks, stroke and death in people who consume the highest levels of the sweetener, a new study found..."
In 2023, the same researchers found similar results for another low-calorie sweetener called erythritol, which is used as a bulking sugar in stevia, monkfruit and keto reduced-sugar products. Additional lab and animal research presented in both papers revealed erythritol and xylitol may cause blood platelets to clot more readily. Clots can break off and travel to the heart, triggering a heart attack, or to the brain, triggering a stroke.
In the new study on xylitol, "differences in platelet behavior were seen even after a person consumed a modest quantity of xylitol in a drink typical of a portion consumed in real life," said Dr. Matthew Tomey, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital in New York City, who was not involved in the study... "Through their work, the investigators have shined a light on the safety of sugar substitutes. There is more to learn," Mount Sinai's Tomey said. "In the meantime, it is worth remembering that sugar substitutes are no substitute for a sincere commitment to the several elements of a healthy diet and lifestyle."
Tomey added that the experiments "are interesting but alone do not prove that platelet abnormalities are to account for a linkage between xylitol and clinical events." But CNN notes that the researchers began by analyzing over 3,200 blood samples — and then also gave volunteers a typical xylitol-sweetened drink to see how much in increased their glucose levels. "They went up 1,000-fold," senior study author Dr. Stanley Hazen told CNN.
His study adds that the World Health Organization warned consumers in 2023 to avoid artificial sweeteners for weight loss and called for additional research on the long-term toxicity of low- and no-calorie sweeteners.
In the new study on xylitol, "differences in platelet behavior were seen even after a person consumed a modest quantity of xylitol in a drink typical of a portion consumed in real life," said Dr. Matthew Tomey, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital in New York City, who was not involved in the study... "Through their work, the investigators have shined a light on the safety of sugar substitutes. There is more to learn," Mount Sinai's Tomey said. "In the meantime, it is worth remembering that sugar substitutes are no substitute for a sincere commitment to the several elements of a healthy diet and lifestyle."
Tomey added that the experiments "are interesting but alone do not prove that platelet abnormalities are to account for a linkage between xylitol and clinical events." But CNN notes that the researchers began by analyzing over 3,200 blood samples — and then also gave volunteers a typical xylitol-sweetened drink to see how much in increased their glucose levels. "They went up 1,000-fold," senior study author Dr. Stanley Hazen told CNN.
His study adds that the World Health Organization warned consumers in 2023 to avoid artificial sweeteners for weight loss and called for additional research on the long-term toxicity of low- and no-calorie sweeteners.
Did they survive the 1000-fold glucose increase? (Score:2, Interesting)
Google tells me blood glucose levels range from 4 to 9 mmol/L in controlled diabetes. I wonder if those test subjects survived with 10% of their blood turning to low-calorie glucose.
Re: (Score:2)
the articles linked are all extremely vague and provide conflicting information- guess someone gave a very vague prompt to what ever AI platform
they use to write articles for them
Re: (Score:2)
If only we knew for certain that the sugar industry has been paying scientists to vilify everything but sugar since at least 1976, including "landmark" Harvard studies that told Americans to stop eating eggs and put sugar on wheat instead ("low-fat craze").
Then we would wonder why a dominant sweetener isn't causing massive die offs in Japan.
But nobody "trusts the experts" anymore so it doesn't matter.
Re: (Score:3)
This isn't about stevia, it's about xylitol.
I for one cheer any news that means they're likely to ditch these sugar alcohols. They're horrible. In addition to all of the other problems with them, they're extreme FODMAPs to anyone with FODMAP sensitivity (aka, including myself). Even non-FODMAP-sensitive people can get bloating and gas, whereas for sensitive people I'm left miserable for the next 24 hours (not just digestive problems but headaches as well).
I'm happy with stevia. I'm happy with aspartame,
Re:Did they survive the 1000-fold glucose increase (Score:4, Interesting)
Xylitol is very rarely used in food. It is expensive and less sweet, and almost only found in dental-related products because it is fantastic for dental health. So that means toothpastes and mouthwashes, which are never swallowed. And gum and mints, of which one doesn't usually consume much volume.
As for other sugar alcohols, yeah, they can be pretty yucky.
Re: (Score:3)
"Xylitol is present in many products and foods" [fda.gov] - FDA
Re: (Score:2)
>""Xylitol is present in many products and foods" [fda.gov] - FDA"
Curious use of the word "many" when it is probably less than 0.01% of foods, or less than 1% of sugar-free foods. I read ingredients of everything I consider, buy, or eat. And I often buy sugar-free things. I have never seen Xylitol in any food. Only in the things I already listed that are not "food"... breath mints, gum, medications, and dental products.
The overwhelming vast majority of sugar-free foods use aspartame, sucralose, ascs
Re: (Score:2)
Your experience differs from mine (and the FDAs).
But honestly it doesn't matter much to me. They're all problematic for me. If it ends in -itol, I can't eat it.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
>"An aside: My doctor just reminded me that chemicals DO get absorbed into the bloodstream directly via the mouth."
Oh, this is absolutely true, of course. My point was that the amount typically consumed (absorbed) with things like toothpaste, mouthwash, etc, is extremely minor compared to actual ingestion (swallowing and digesting). If you put a few grams of X into a drink and drink it compared to gargling with that liquid and spitting it out, the amount absorbed is drastically lower (just how low depe
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Interestingly, although I have no problem with Xylitol, I have lots of digestive issues with Sorbitol. I can't use that at all. Different people might have different reactions to different sugar alcohols.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Full agree. It's so hard to lead a low carb lifestyle with food variety (particular in desserts). Because you're either buying full sugar American food, or "keto"-labeled food which is always laden with these sugar alcohols. Finding stuff in the middle (which is low carb, say without a ton of added sugar, but ALSO without a ton of these sugar alcohols) is freakin impossible.
Re:Did they survive the 1000-fold glucose increase (Score:4, Informative)
The x1000 increase is for blood xylitol not glucose. EditorDavid appears to have skimmed the first few paragraphs and picked up on the third:
but missed the one immediately prior:
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You mean the stuff that your body produces non-stop en-masse?
Re: (Score:2)
Poster induced a -70 IQ point debuff on contact to everyone involved.
Sometimes, homeschooling fails so miserably it could be considered a war crime...
Avoid sugar (Score:2)
Don't replace it with anything. Everything is too sweet, because sweet sells. You get used to things not being as sweet.
Re: (Score:2)
You get used to things not being as sweet.
Yeah, you can learn to tolerate unsweetened flavored seltzer water and I'm sure some people have even convinced themselves they like the stuff. It'd still taste a lot better with some sweetener added to it. That's just years of evolution which hasn't caught up with the fact that in developed nations with abundant, easily accessible food, you're more likely to shorten your life by consuming too many calories, rather than too few.
Re: (Score:2)
Cookies are another matter. You'll get my cane sugar when you pry it out of my cold, diabetic fingers.
Re: (Score:2)
Speaking of evolution, there's a theory (though it's disputed) that the reason that so many plants have evolved a wide range of non-caloric sweeteners (the vast majority of which aren't on the market and you've almost surely never heard of them) is to game the system. Animals evolve to crave sweet things for the calories; plants evolve to put non-caloric sweeteners in their fruits so that they don't have to invest the energy to make sugar.
It sounds logical, but there are some hitches in it - the evidence f
Re: (Score:3)
The problem with that theory is that non-caloric sweetners aren't non-caloric. Humans can't digest them, so we don't get calories from them, but they still store energy and have a cost to produce. In many cases, that production cost is significantly higher than the simpler glucose-fructose sugars that we can digest.
Re: (Score:2)
This is simply not true. The amount of most non-caloric sweeteners needed to make a fruit sweet is microscopic compared to the amount of sugar to do so.
Re: (Score:2)
Animals evolve to crave sweet things for the calories; plants evolve to put non-caloric sweeteners in their fruits so that they don't have to invest the energy to make sugar.
Why would plants evolve to be tasty to animals in the first place?
Re: (Score:2)
In their fruits? For seed dispersal. That's the reason why most fruits exist. They're there to be eaten, or at least carried around with intent to eat (and occasionally dropped / lost / hidden and forgotten).
As a general rule, plants can't walk, fly, swim, etc. Moving their descendants around is a challenge for a sessile organism.
It's when sweeteners are found in parts of the plant other than fruits and flowers that the theory starts to break down.
And will power is the solution to everything. (Score:2)
You include the fact that our sense of 'sweet' changes based on what we eat, and claim 'everything is too sweet'.
Congrats on winning the lottery for being able to want to eat food with zero sugar, but many of us can't. That's after forcing super low sugar/starch intake, even trying water fasts for longer than I probably should have.
Stop assuming because something works for your particular genetics it'll work in general... especially for a problem that's called an 'epidemic'. That points me to you being t
Re: (Score:2)
Sugar is a bad habit. Many bad habits have roots in evolutionary drives, and sugar is no exception. That doesn't mean you can't learn to not binge on sugar. "Getting used to things not being so sweet" doesn't mean you have to learn to "do without" in the sense that you miss it every time you eat or drink something not as sweet. You get used to the taste. It tastes sweet, just less so. It tastes naturally sweet, and the expectation of sweetness changes. It's not a matter of "willpower", unless you think brus
Re: (Score:2)
Don't replace it with anything. Everything is too sweet, because sweet sells. You get used to things not being as sweet.
Consuming too much sugar helps to elevate your triglycerides (or VLDLs), unless you lead a very active lifestyle where you burn it all off. The overabundance of sugar in our food is what's giving people a lot of problems. What we call bread would be considered a cake in some European countries because of the amount of sugar in them. Yes, you need a little bit of sugar to activate the yeast and help the bread rise... but the amount you need in order for this to occur is nowhere near the levels actually in
Re: (Score:2)
same with salt, seems like everything is just sweet or salty. there is no need for the over-use of these two, people need to learn to taste again!
Sugar *substitute* (Score:2)
Xylitol isn't artificial, it's a naturally occurring sugar alcohol. It's typically used as a sugar substitute in products where sugar provides bulk in addition to sweetness, such as sugar free candies. Xylitol (in addition to several other similar sugar alcohols) is already rather infamous for the rather unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects when consumed in "excess" (which typically ends up actually meaning the amount of sugar-free candy the average American would consume in one serving). This has le
Re: (Score:2)
Better taste profile?
Yup, ask anyone who is a habitual diet soda drinker. Once you become accustomed to not having the syrupy sugar "hit" in the back of the throat, the typical aspartame & ace-k artificial sweetener blend just tastes sweet.
Oh, and stevia might be natural, but it also tastes unbelievably awful.
Actually, Stevia is similar to cilantro where how it tastes depends on your genetics. If you got an unlucky roll of the genetic dice, Stevia tastes like licorice rather than sweet.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, Stevia is similar to cilantro where how it tastes depends on your genetics. If you got an unlucky roll of the genetic dice, Stevia tastes like licorice rather than sweet.
What are you even basing this on? The thing with cilantro is well known, basically it tastes like soap to people who have a limited sense of smell such that the strongest component they can smell are the aldehydes. They also tend to hate related foods like oregano and for basically the same reason. For everybody else, the other scents heavily overpower the aldehydes so you don't really notice them. If the cilantro haters simply hold their nose while eating it, it will likely taste like parsley.
For me stevia
Re: (Score:2)
I have a bad sense of smell, but stevia tastes sweet for me. It has an aftertaste, but it does not bother me. I use Stevia with tea, but I found that it is incompatible with honeysuckle tea - I add the same amount of stevia as usual, but cannot taste it. I use another sweetener with it - a mix of cyclamate and saccharine (that sweetener tastes almost like sugar when put in water).
I like licorice, but I don't think that stevia tastes like it.
Re: (Score:2)
>"For me stevia does have a sweet taste, but with an after-taste even more bothersome than aspartame's after-taste"
Stevia does have a sweet taste, but it has a slightly bitter aftertaste that I do not like. At least to me. Aspartame has much, much, much less aftertaste, close to none, and I detect no bitterness. But the sweet taste isn't quite the same as sugar, either. Sucralose has no aftertaste at all, it is nearly a perfect sugar clone in the taste profile (although it doesn't behave the same).
Re:Sugar *substitute* (Score:5, Interesting)
Xylitol isn't artificial, it's a naturally occurring sugar alcohol.
More than that, it's an intermediary molecule made while metabolizing different sugars, and it's a totally naturally occurring chemical in various fruits. But don't say the word "chemical" to the food religion, it scares them. Not that they'll eat anything containing xylitol anyways, because they won't eat anything with an ingredient they can't pronounce. But it's not all bad -- the good news is we can starve them all out simply by showing them the ingredients of basically everything. Like natural organic bananas for example:
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker... [kinja-img.com]
Just look at all of the food dyes in it -- they know that stuff is bad for them. Oh and it has all three of the ingredients that make up aspartame. Show them this and they'll never eat a banana again. Just don't tell them that all of these stupid rules they follow are really just marketing crap made up by the very food industry they despise, generally they pay pop culture magazines to invent completely meaningless shit terms, like the word superfood, which has no scientific basis at all and none of those assholes can even agree on what the word means.
Re: (Score:2)
Calling something a natural product doesn't mean anything at all.
Our entire food manufacturing processes are all about substitutes. We are at the point one has to ask, i
Re:Sugar *substitute* (Score:5, Informative)
I wasn't playing the "natural is healthy" card, I was playing the "Slashdot editors don't do their job" card. Referring to Xylitol as an artificial sweetener is incorrect.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, it's "natural" but consuming large amounts of it, just as with sugar itself, is definitely not.
In other words, swapping out one food item which we have refined (thus removing qualities that mitigate it's worst properties healthwise) and consume in extremely unnatural quantities for another for which we have done the same has never seemed like a winner idea to me.
Re: (Score:2)
Fact check: Haribo Sugarfree Gummi Bears contained the following [noveltystreet.com]:
Hydrogenated Glucose Syrup (LYCASIN), Gelatin, Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Artificial Colors: Yellow 5, Blue 1, Red 40, Fractionated Coconut Oil, Beeswax, Carnauba Wax, Starch
Lycasin [roquette.com] is a brand of maltitol sweetener.
The gummy bears of which you speak did not contain xylitol.
obvious (Score:5, Insightful)
Doc will tell you to cut down on sugar, so you will use artificial sweeteners
No surprise that the two would correlate in patients.
Re: (Score:2)
Complementary mechanistic studies showed xylitol-enhanced multiple indices of platelet reactivity and in vivo thrombosis formation at levels observed in fasting plasma. In interventional studies, consumption of a xylitol-sweetened drink markedly raised plasma levels and enhanced multiple functional measures of platelet responsiveness in all subjects. Conclusions Xylitol is associated with incident MACE risk. Moreover, xylitol both enhanced platelet reactivity and thrombosis potential in vivo. Further studies examining the cardiovascular safety of xylitol are warranted.
Artificial sweeteners. The good. The bad. The ugly (Score:2)
Most artificial sweeteners disrupt your gut microbiome:
Artificial sweeteners cause a “breakdown in communication” among gut bacteria, changing the microbiome and potentially increasing the risk of disease, Israeli scientists say. https://www.timesofisrael.com/sweeteners-hurt-the-ability-of-gut-bacteria-to-keep-us-well-israeli-study [timesofisrael.com]
Your best bet is probably Stevia.
The Slashdot post talks about xylitol and erythiol. I was not aware that they are used a lot as artificial sweeteners, since
Re: (Score:3)
>"The Slashdot post talks about xylitol and erythiol. I was not aware that they are used a lot as artificial sweeteners, since they are much less sweet than sucrose"
Xylitol is very rarely used in food. It is expensive and less sweet, and almost only found in dental-related products because it is fantastic for dental health. So that means toothpastes and mouthwashes, which are never swallowed. And gum and mints, of which one doesn't usually consume much volume.
So even if there is a "scare", it really d
Companion article ... (Score:2)
There is a companion article to the paper, titled Xylitol: bitter cardiovascular data for a successful sweetener [oup.com].
See the graphic summary for the scoop ...
Not just a sweetener (Score:5, Insightful)
In Finland, xylitol isn't used so much as a sugar substitute / sweetener, but rather an after-meal “drug” to fight dental caries in the form of chewing gum or tablets. Its effects were studied here extensively in the 1970s, and we now know it works best in pure form, i.e. not mixed with other sweeteners.
Growing up in the 1980s, the chewing gum format was quite popular due to extensive campaigning, but I personally didn't like chewing things that much. In the late 00s I started taking xylitol tablets after meals, and since then my teeth have been in much better shape. The tablet also works as a psychological marker for the end of a meal, so it helps maintain a discipline of a few solid meals per day instead of continued snacking.
Like a lot of sugar alcohols, xylitol has a laxative effect, but it's not noticeable with the recommended doses, which is about 5 g per day. So the 30-gram dose mentioned in this study isn't very realistic.
I would also note that dental caries (and other infections of the mouth such as gingivitis) is linked to wider health problems including heart issues. So I won't be giving up my xylitol tabs any time soon.
Re: (Score:1)
It would have to be a pretty dang strong link ... (Score:2)
Has someone access to the article? (Score:2)
Is it really the Xylitol? (Score:2)
Or is it the people who absolutely want to eat 15 cakes per day just switching to a different sweetener?
Body bacteria needed for NO recycling related? (Score:3)
I'm having trouble finding the page again in my browser history, but I was researching mouthwash ingredients and found a paper guessing that a statistically significant increase in hospital deaths after a certain mouthwash ingredient was used was due to NO regenerating bacteria being destroyed in the mouth. It was just a theory in the paper that someone else needs to investigate.
Think nitrates/nitrites to nitrous oxide (saliva and digestive tract being involved) which is a blood vessel dilator and is used as a medication for heart conditions ('nitro pills'). If we suddenly drop the incoming levels, in a person already sick in other ways (being put on a ventilator, or other reasons to be in a hospital)... it's not too surprising they're more likely to have bad heart problems just afterward.
This might be the same thing. With bacteria not able to eat the Xylitol being a reason it prevents tooth decay. Remove all food for something and it'll die. Any ancillary things it helped with will stop too.
Who paid for the study? (Score:2)
paint me skeptical. (Score:2)
That explains it - I'm a victim of Xylitol!!! (Score:1)
A couple of weeks ago, I was trying out some Xylitol gum. Soon, I ended up with some obvious side effects. Mainly, I had really bad swollen feet and ankles, which I assumed were an allergic reaction, even though it seemed like exactly like the classic effects of type 2 diabetes. I stopped using the gum, and the symptoms soon vanished (no other change in behavior or diet). Now I realize that Xylitol really was giving me instant type 2 diabetes, it wasn't an allergy. Yikes! I'm throwing my remaining gum
USA: Sugar and sweeteners everywhere (Score:2)
Every time we bring some dessert of our country to our American friends to sample, they say it is too sweet. I guess they do not notice everything they consume in this country is either sweet or sweeter than what the rest of the world consumes. There is no sweetness in our beans, tomatoes or corn. We do not mix marshmallows in a salad (a Midwestern staple, it seems). We do not use meat dressings (because our meat tastes like actual meat and not like corn syrup) and most of our salad dressings are either vin
"Stevia" (Score:2)
"The day they find that yoga mats are carcinogenic will be happiest day of my life." - Tim Minchin
The most self-righteous bunch of twats I ever met were proponents of erythritol who had a hate on for all things aspartame or sucralose. Hah.
I don't use Stevia or the other products listed here. But I don't avoid aspartame or sucralose. And given the wide variety of questionable things this 53 year old body has ingested, I'm not going to start worrying about them now.
"May" (Score:2)
A lot of these studies revolve around the word "may". Once again, correlation does not imply causation.
I'm sure this is a glorious day for lawyers in California.