Fascinating, I'm a heavy consumer of this stuff and I would love to know how valid this research is. If it's solid work, I guess it's bye bye to a lot of products that felt guilt-free.
They think that erythritol increases platelet activity which may cause thrombosis. They have proven that erythritol does affect platelet reactivity. However the study doesn't prove it adequately to say that it definitively causes thrombosis. That would require a follow up study. They have some correlation in data from people with cardiac disease, but it's not surprising to see erythritol there because a lot of cardiac disease is caused by type 2 diabetes.
Without further study there is no way to say if there is an increased risk of thrombosis from this data alone. Just enough to say they should perform further studies to make a determination. In most cases with these studies, the increased risk of thrombosis would so low that you could offset it by taking a walk once a week.
I personally won't stop my consumption of erythritol on this data alone, but there ARE other sweeteners. I mostly use Stevia myself.
I wouldn't worry about it, from what I gather the validity (of the claim erythritol: bad) of the study is questionable. Mainly because the study participants were very ill with hypertension, diabetes, CVD, and they didn't look at erythritol intake, just blood levels.
Layne Norton did a quick video explaining the shortcomings of the study.
The problem with studies like this is the reporting on them. I'm fairly sure most people reporting on this study did not actually read it (and you can't read it without paying). And it just plays into the confirmation bias that any non-nutritive sweetener is bad, despite them all being wildly different chemical compounds that all get metabolised in very different ways.
Most "monk fruit" sweetener I've seen actually has erythritol as the main ingredient, which just a small amount of monk fruit. Presumably this is to get away with calling it "monk fruit sweetener" which appeals to the idea that it's somehow a more "natural" product.
Monkfruit is "300x sweeter than sugar." I have no idea how they measure this. I've never tasted monkfruit or an undiluted extract. They mix it in with erythritol to try and match the sweetness and appearance of sugar.
Allulose is about 70% as sweet as sugar but tastes much more like sugar than the other sugar alcohols. Allulose caramelizes (tho you should not try to make caramel with allulose. (you've been warned.)) It dissolves much better than erythritol. Allulose has a consistency more like dextrose than table sugar. More like a powder. It behaves more like sugar in baked goods.
Erythritol has a kinda minty aftertaste.. like on the exhale that can be unpleasant if it's not overpowered by something else.
All that said, I still prefer an erythritol + monkfruit sweetener in beverages. Erythritol is easier on my stomach in larger quantities.
Comments
Fascinating, I'm a heavy consumer of this stuff and I would love to know how valid this research is. If it's solid work, I guess it's bye bye to a lot of products that felt guilt-free.
They think that erythritol increases platelet activity which may cause thrombosis. They have proven that erythritol does affect platelet reactivity. However the study doesn't prove it adequately to say that it definitively causes thrombosis. That would require a follow up study. They have some correlation in data from people with cardiac disease, but it's not surprising to see erythritol there because a lot of cardiac disease is caused by type 2 diabetes.
Without further study there is no way to say if there is an increased risk of thrombosis from this data alone. Just enough to say they should perform further studies to make a determination. In most cases with these studies, the increased risk of thrombosis would so low that you could offset it by taking a walk once a week.
I personally won't stop my consumption of erythritol on this data alone, but there ARE other sweeteners. I mostly use Stevia myself.
I wouldn't worry about it, from what I gather the validity (of the claim erythritol: bad) of the study is questionable. Mainly because the study participants were very ill with hypertension, diabetes, CVD, and they didn't look at erythritol intake, just blood levels.
Layne Norton did a quick video explaining the shortcomings of the study.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad8_scQtHFM
The problem with studies like this is the reporting on them. I'm fairly sure most people reporting on this study did not actually read it (and you can't read it without paying). And it just plays into the confirmation bias that any non-nutritive sweetener is bad, despite them all being wildly different chemical compounds that all get metabolised in very different ways.
Many/most of the monk fruit 'sweetener' products contain it as an additive. Super annoying since monk fruit itself doesn't need it.
Most "monk fruit" sweetener I've seen actually has erythritol as the main ingredient, which just a small amount of monk fruit. Presumably this is to get away with calling it "monk fruit sweetener" which appeals to the idea that it's somehow a more "natural" product.
Monkfruit is "300x sweeter than sugar." I have no idea how they measure this. I've never tasted monkfruit or an undiluted extract. They mix it in with erythritol to try and match the sweetness and appearance of sugar.
Even my stevia sweetener has erythritol as its first ingredient, so this has to be ubiquitous. Back to Splenda I guess?
Trader Joes has pure stevia
I, for one, am confused why people choose erythritol over allulose.
They usually don't. But if you get something like monk fruit, you only need a tiny amount. Erythritol is often added so it will look more like sugar.
Looking over the pond, e.g. EU has not allowed allulose / psicose for human consumption.
Also, here is a thread from a week ago that also discussed allulose: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34879059
What are the benefits of allulose over erythritol? I’ve only had the latter, but they seem pretty similar.
Allulose is about 70% as sweet as sugar but tastes much more like sugar than the other sugar alcohols. Allulose caramelizes (tho you should not try to make caramel with allulose. (you've been warned.)) It dissolves much better than erythritol. Allulose has a consistency more like dextrose than table sugar. More like a powder. It behaves more like sugar in baked goods.
Erythritol has a kinda minty aftertaste.. like on the exhale that can be unpleasant if it's not overpowered by something else.
All that said, I still prefer an erythritol + monkfruit sweetener in beverages. Erythritol is easier on my stomach in larger quantities.