(NewsNation) — Higher amounts of the sugar substitute xylitol are associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, according to new Cleveland Clinic research.
Xylitol is commonly found in sugar-free candy, gum, baked goods and sometimes toothpaste. Substitutes and sugar alcohols like xylitol have increasingly been added to processed foods marketed as health alternatives throughout the past decade, per the Clinic.
Researchers found that high levels of the sweetener were associated with an elevated three-year risk of cardiovascular events in an analysis of more than 300 patients in the United States and Europe. Preclinical testing also determined xylitol caused platelets to clot and increased the risk of thrombosis.
Platelet activity from people who ingested a xylitol-sweetened drink had significantly increased measures of clotting ability immediately after consuming compared to those who had a glucose-sweetened drink, researchers found.
“It does not mean throw out your toothpaste if it has xylitol in it, but we should be aware that consumption of a product containing high levels could increase the risk of blood clot related events,” Stanley Hazen, chair of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences at Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, said in an official statement.
The findings were published Thursday in the European Heart Journal by the same research team that found a similar link between erythritol and cardiovascular risk last year.
