They’ve soured on this sugar substitute.
Consuming foods that contain erythritol, a popular artificial sweetener and common ingredient in keto diet products, increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, a new Cleveland Clinic study warns.
Erythritol makes platelets in the blood more active, which may lead to blood clots, researchers explained Thursday in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.
“This research raises some concerns that a standard serving of an erythritol-sweetened food or beverage may acutely stimulate a direct clot-forming effect,” said study co-author Dr. W. H. Wilson Tang, research director for Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Medicine at Cleveland Clinic.