Sweetener Linked to Increased Blood Clot Risk

A zero-calorie sweetener added to stevia, monk fruit, and low-carb keto products dramatically increases the risk of blood clots, according to new research, adding to concerns that consuming artificial sweeteners could ultimately trigger heart attack or stroke. In a pilot study, researchers took the blood of 20 participants who'd fasted overnight. Half were then given a drink sweetened with 30 grams of sugar alcohol erythritol—meant to match daily intake based on a 2014 national survey, per USA Today—while the other half were given a drink sweetened with 30 grams of sugar, or glucose. Thirty minutes later, researchers took their blood again, CNN reports.

"What is remarkable is that in every single subject, every measure of [blood clotting] went up following the erythritol ingestion," says lead study author Dr. Stanley Hazen, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Diagnostics and Prevention at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. "Glucose doesn't impact clotting, but erythritol does." Hazen suggested the increased risk of clotting could remain "in the days following erythritol ingestion," per USA Today. Study co-author Dr. Wai Hong Wilson Tang, also of the Cleveland Clinic, says the finding "raises some concerns that a standard serving of an erythritol-sweetened food or beverage may acutely stimulate a direct clot-forming effect."

The National Institutes of Health-funded study published Thursday in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology follows other research linking erythritol to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and death as well as blood clots in mice. It also follows research showing 10 patients who consumed xylitol, another sugar alcohol, had an increased risk of clotting. "This line of research certainly begs the question: Are they safe or not?" says Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular wellness at National Jewish Health, per CNN. The Calorie Control Council, a food industry group, criticized the study, claiming 30 grams of erythritol is "nearly quadruple the maximum amount approved in any single beverage" in the US. (More artificial sweetener stories.)