A new study has suggested that the artificial sweetener, erythritol, used in stevia and keta products increases the risk of blood clotting.
According to CNN, erythritol, which is added in huge amounts in stevia and low-carb products, doubled the risk of blood clotting in 10 people.
The lead study author, Dr. Stanley Hazen, director of the Centre for Cardiovascular Diagnostics and Prevention at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, said, “What is remarkable is that in every single subject, every measure of platelet responsiveness (clotting) went up following the erythritol ingestion.”
These blood clots are harmful to the body and can cause serious health issues. It can break off food vessels and travel into the heart and brain, triggering a heart attack and stroke.
Hazen noted, “This is the first direct head-to-head comparison of the effects of ingesting glucose versus ingesting erythritol on multiple different measures of platelet function. Glucose doesn’t impact clotting, but erythritol does.”
Moreover, study coauthor Dr. Wai Hong Wilson Tang asserted, “This research raises some concerns that a standard serving of an erythritol-sweetened food or beverage may acutely stimulate a direct clot-forming effect.”
In response to the study, the president of the Calorie Control Council, Carla Saunders, told CNN, “Consumers should interpret the results of this pilot with extreme caution. The limited number of participants, a total of 10, were given an excessive amount of erythritol, nearly quadruple the maximum amount approved in any single beverage in the United States.”
