Sweetener used in foods, beverages linked to strokes, heart attacks – Study

Xylitol, a sugar alcohol added to foods, beverages and oral care products as a sweetener, has been linked to an increased risk of stroke and heart attack, a new study has found.

The sweetener is commonly found in products such as chewing gum, toothpaste, jam, yoghurt and ice cream.

This was revealed in a press release published by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) ahead of their annual congress in Munich, Germany, which runs from 28 to 31 August.

Researchers found that people with higher levels of xylitol in their blood had a greater risk of major cardiovascular events – defined as death, heart attack or stroke, compared with those with the lowest levels.

According to the ESC, the study examined data from 17,710 participants in two prospective observational studies: the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Ageing and the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer-Norfolk.

Over six years of follow-up in the Canadian study, the risk of a major cardiovascular event was 57 per cent higher among participants with the highest xylitol levels, while the risk was 18 per cent higher over 30 years in the European study.

“Taken together with data from the middle quartiles, the results from both cohorts suggested a dose-dependent relationship: the higher the xylitol blood levels, the higher the cardiovascular event rate,” it noted.

What is xylitol?

Xylitol is a sugar alcohol that occurs naturally in the body as a byproduct of glucose metabolism and is present in some natural foods in very small amounts.

It is also added to foods, beverages and oral care products as a sweetener, sometimes in amounts more than 1,000 times higher than naturally occurring levels, according to the ESC.

Marco Witkowski of Charite University Hospital, Berlin, Germany, who is presenting the research, said previous studies had shown that xylitol could enhance the ability of blood platelets to form clots.

“Artificial sweeteners are consumed by people who think they are healthier than sugar and they are generally regarded as safe by regulatory agencies,” Mr Witkowski was quoted to have said.

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He said the long-term findings highlighted “how little we know about the cardiovascular safety of xylitol” and indicated that further studies were needed, particularly as the amount of xylitol used in products continues to increase.

Dan Atar, a member of the ESC Communication Committee, said the findings suggested a negative long-term effect of xylitol on cardiovascular events.

Mr Atar, however, cautioned that the study is observational.

“As with all observational studies, casualties are difficult to infer, but this work shows that further studies are mandated into this societally important topic,” he said.