New warnings about Erythritol. #Linke... - Atrial Fibrillati...

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New warnings about Erythritol. #Linked to clot formation and strokes

blmbmj profile image
36 Replies

newscientist.com/article/23...

newsroom.clevelandclinic.or...

This is VERY concerning to me, as a person with AFIB who is taking Xarelto for anti-coagulation and using Erythritol products for a Low Carb Diet.

Naturally, I will stop using it immediately, but, dang, what's an obese person with Afib supposed to do?

Sugar is bad for us.

The majority of sugar substitutes are equally as bad.

I will have to learn to live without sweetness in my world.

Geez Louise.

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blmbmj
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36 Replies
CDreamer profile image
CDreamer

You know - I’ve just about given up worrying about these types of scares as every week there is a new something to worry about however - the body doesn’t recognise processed chemicals as food - whatever the source - and sweeteners are ultra processed chemicals. I’ve never used any sweetener and no added sugar to tea or coffee, never had sweet drinks and hardly ever any sugar in any baking or cooking. I always found food in US far too sweet generally, especially the bread. Trouble is if you are weaned on a sweet diet it is incredibly hard to wean yourself off it so I do feel for you as sweets are so addictive.

I really think you will be better off using sugar and try using a little less each day. If you do use any sugar I would suggest you try to use unprocessed cane sugar or coconut sugar which has a different glucose composition and to cane or beet sugars and at least contains a little fibre.

blmbmj profile image
blmbmj in reply toCDreamer

Thank you for the wonderful advice. I will do just that.

Peace and health to you.

Hennerton profile image
Hennerton

There is plenty of natural sweetness in fruits and a diet of natural food, properly cooked at home and not bought ready made in a packet would immediately result in weight loss. Anything made from chemicals and in a factory can never be good for our bodies. I think you will quickly see a difference in your health if you try eating real home cooked food.

Bloodredroses profile image
Bloodredroses in reply toHennerton

Depends what is in the home cooked food, can be fattening also . Very broad statement .

Hennerton profile image
Hennerton in reply toBloodredroses

I think it is fair to say that anyone who is bothering to go shopping for natural foods that they intend to cook themselves is probably cognisant of what constitutes a properly balanced meal and will have an interest in healthy eating.

Bloodredroses profile image
Bloodredroses in reply toHennerton

Sure . Some people can absorb good fats some can’t . My brother loses weight on keto butter bacon olive oil etc etc I put lot of weight fast in that . Organic can be dairys , whole grain fruits natural sweeteners , csn be calorific . See what I mean .

Hennerton profile image
Hennerton in reply toBloodredroses

Sorry but I am not sure what your point is. I simply believe that if you eat natural unprocessed food and plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables and cook all your own food, without relying on ready prepared meals, you will be doing the best you can for your body. It is simply a way of life.

Bloodredroses profile image
Bloodredroses in reply toHennerton

it’s the best , yes, point is that is not necessarily the lowest calorie though . That’s all .

Hennerton profile image
Hennerton in reply toBloodredroses

we shall have to agree to disagree on this one but I think you will find that ultra processed foods that might be sold as low calorie are bad for the body. The object is to eat proper food, cooked at home and as fresh as possible. Ultra processed “ slimming” foods bought in a supermarket will not give the body what it needs and consequently will trick the body into wanting more and more, while giving it nothing fresh and natural, full of vitamins and minerals and protein. You need to stop measuring food by calories and start eating real food. It will satisfy your hunger cravings and you will naturally eat less.

Bloodredroses profile image
Bloodredroses in reply toHennerton

A misunderstanding on your part , on this side there was no mention of Ultra processed “ slimming” foods bought in a supermarkets. ‘ Real food ‘. Can also be too calorific also. However natural , surely don’t need to be specific. Sauces made with cream and cheese , baked goods even using wholegrain flour , banana bread are all high calorie for those who need to be in a calorie defecut diet . Using totally all home cooked natural even organic produce . Assume you have never been required to lose weight. It is wrong to assume people are overweight due to eating only processed foods’ There are many reasons . People absorb and process healthy fats and sugars in different ways . People who cannot exercise due to arthritic conditions . Must eat much less and avoid certain foods however organic natural and home cooked it is . Hope this has finally opened the way to better understanding that people’s physiology and food intolerances ( not dependant on it being home cooked unprocessed organic etc ) is different . Hope this is now done .

blmbmj profile image
blmbmj in reply toBloodredroses

100% agree with this. It has been my life. Everybody's genetic code brings biases and differences to who we each are. And, also, socioeconomic factors have to be considered. What happens if one lives in a food dessert where abundant, fresh NON-GMO produce is not readily available? My black genetics bring a predisposition to higher weight and its related co-morbidities. academic.oup.com/ajcn/artic...

Hennerton profile image
Hennerton in reply toBloodredroses

Thank you for trying to put me straight on this subject but my experience and that of my friends, is that if one eats healthily, exercises in a simple way every day, such as brisk walking and generally keeps busy, weight is not an issue.

If a person is disabled in any way, however minor it may be, we are talking of an entirely different matter. Let us close the subject, please, before we bore members to death.

Bloodredroses profile image
Bloodredroses in reply toHennerton

Having to be right , last word will do that. Everybody is different , Good to remember that .

Ppiman profile image
Ppiman

That's worrying. Thanks for posting it. Sugars are crucial to health, of course, and dextrose, glucose, fruit sugars and the like seem to be safe and healthy foods - so long as they come into our mouths as nature intended. along with their natural packaging, e.g. as fruit, honey and similar. Even white sugar (i.e. sucrose) is an entirely natural chemical, but not when it enters our mouths from white crystals in a bag!

I've tried to reduce the amount of sugar I eat, and have done quite well over the years, but a small spoonful still finds its way into tea and coffee, and on cereals - and in the form of marmalade, of course! One of the most annoying things for me is the over sweetness of even premium "healthy" yoghurts. I do wish someone would make one that is less sweet!

Steve.

ozziebob profile image
ozziebob in reply toPpiman

The organic Natural yoghurt I buy, and which is available at all supermarkets, has 4.9g/100g sugar, but that is only the milk's naturally occurring sugar (lactose). No added sugar. Isn't that "less sweet" enough for your palate?

Ppiman profile image
Ppiman in reply toozziebob

Hi there, Bob. Thanks! I meant to say the fruit yoghurt pots. Yes - we eat a lot of the natural Greek yogurt alone or with honey. It’s 10% fat but really special texture and taste.

I ordered the Wellue Health AI ECG device you use and recommend, yesterday, btw. I have high hopes for it.

Steve

ozziebob profile image
ozziebob in reply toPpiman

No, I didn't recommend that device! You are confusing me with a different Aussie. Mind you we all sound/look the same!

As for the device, which I would like to own, I don't have a computer, and you need one for the software that produces the AI Reports.

I am curious though about why this device is not available in USA. Perhaps not "medically approved" there?

Back to the yoghurt, I add fresh fruit to my organic natural (not Greek) yoghurt, but nothing else.

In my younger days I started the "healthy practice" of a spoon of honey in tea instead of sugar. Sadly that slowly progressed to 2 spoons per cup of tea, then 3, then 4. So I had become addicted to the sugar in honey. Giving up honey in tea was a horrible period of constant headaches. Very difficult. A lesson indeed. A cup of tea without any sweeteners has since been a thing of joy.

Ppiman profile image
Ppiman in reply toozziebob

We really enjoy a strong cup of tea and even fill our own compostable plastic-free bags each day with leaves!

I think the Wellue company hasn’t got FDA approval yet for their AI algorithms but it seems it has full UK and EU approval.

Steve

ozziebob profile image
ozziebob in reply toPpiman

Re the owner and recommender of the Wellue device you referenced, it was OzRob.

As for the device, please let the Forum know how it performs for you.

Ppiman profile image
Ppiman in reply toozziebob

Hi Bob

It’s on its way, an email has just informed me! That was quick. And I shall definitely report back.

Steve

Leechg profile image
Leechg

Hi, I too worry about sweeteners. I follow low carb diet as pre diabetic. Michael Mosley uses medjool dates to sweeten a few cakes in his books and they are relatively low carb and taste great. It is confusing as some sweeteners claim to be natural, made from plants and not highly processed. Who knows what to believe.

secondtry profile image
secondtry

Purely by accident 10 yrs ago I heard doctor-natasha.com/ speak at a farming conference in Oxford. Her messages included full fat wholesome food that your granny used to eat. Ever since I have spent double on quality food bought where possible direct from organic farms. The roller coaster weight on weight off with diets finished and now at 70 I am the same weight I was at 18!

Caution: if you have comorbidities discuss with your doc first.

Bloodredroses profile image
Bloodredroses in reply tosecondtry

healthy full fry foods make my weight and CHOLESTERAL Rocket . Everybody is different and absorbs food in different ways . Cannot generalise broadly 😀

BobD profile image
BobDVolunteer

It really is easy to stop sugar in tea and coffee if you are determined. As a former 4 teaspoons in a cup of tea man I can attest to that. Many years ago my wife switched me to aspartame but then we discovered how evil it was and went back to sugar,

Four years ago I was told I was pre diabetic so just stopped all added sugar and a year later was back to normal and a stone lighter.

Finvola profile image
Finvola

Thank you for posting this - a reminder of the dangers of artificial sweeteners. I stopped using them at diagnosis 9 years ago - couldn't drink coffee 'naked' so I use a small amount of sugar to take the edge off. I check the ingredients lists of most items I buy - sometimes what I read is shocking, such as a large percentage of a common soft cheese is made up of sugar!

Life without sugar indeed.

irene75359 profile image
irene75359

We have sweeteners for tea and coffee in our house, I'm afraid. Some years ago (at the time of another scare), I stopped using any sort of sweetener and my consumption of tea in particular dropped drastically. More's to the point there was no joy in the morning without my two/three large mugs of sweet, milky tea. I persevered for well over six months and never got used to tea without sweetness, so I went back to using sweeteners. I think I'll take the risk!

Auriculaire profile image
Auriculaire in reply toirene75359

I'd rather do without than drink tea or coffee unsweetened especially as I drink both without milk. Have you tried stevia?

irene75359 profile image
irene75359 in reply toAuriculaire

I have, really upset my stomach, and nothing normally does. And I have tried all the other alternatives too. Nothing hits the spot, unfortunately. We generally don't add sweeteners, sugar or salt to anything we cook. But tea...

etheral profile image
etheral in reply toAuriculaire

Just a personal side note. I've always preferred my coffee black as adding anything including sweetner or milk ruins the taste of the coffee for me. I do not drink tea ( cultural differences I guess).For any other sweetener I use locally produced maple syrup..

Cheers, etheral

Auriculaire profile image
Auriculaire in reply toetheral

We normally use honey for cooking as my husband beekeeps. But last year we lost our last remaining hive to waxmoth. Unless we get a swarm this year ( we have a very bee friendly garden and have had several in the past ) we will have to buy honey but we know a local small scale producer whose honey is good.

Auriculaire profile image
Auriculaire

What about stevia? I sometimes use small amounts to sweeten rhubarb. It comes in either cube or pwder form.

myrnalynn52 profile image
myrnalynn52 in reply toAuriculaire

stevia is included as are the syrups, ( skinny syrups) I would think it’s in most protein bars anything they want low carb or sugar free they have added it for sweetness all the spends, monk fruit, stevia , i Googled it ,I have not found one that down not have Erythritol in it . Game Changer !

kocoach profile image
kocoach

A lot of medical professional's claim "stevia" leaf extract is one of the best and healthier choices for a sugar substitute not raising blood sugar for diabetics and it's all natural.

MarkS profile image
MarkS

There is another article on this with more scientific data: medscape.com/viewarticle/98...

It is a concern. It looks as though clotting time can be reduced by about 30%, so someone on warfarin with an INR of 2 would effectively have that reduced to 1.4. Fortunately I haven't found any of it in the foods I eat regularly.

Bloodredroses profile image
Bloodredroses

Same , I use Freedom Choc shot , tiny bit . Dates Bananas are sweet . Only 1 .

Hallju profile image
Hallju

This is a long article (link at the bottom), but definitely worth considering.

“As Dr. Peter mentioned, despite what the Headlines are screaming, erythritol is not an artificial sweetener. It naturally occurs in plants and is even made by the human body, but it is also currently produced commercially by fermentation. It can also be detected in the plasma of humans that don’t even eat dietary erythritol. (This is an important fact to note as we discuss this recent study correlating plasma erythritol to heart attack and stroke, so keep it in your mind as you continue to read). Erythritol was even found in the plasma and urine of a child with an inborn error of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) *Pub Med, NM Verhoeven et al. Am J Hum Genet. 2002 May. It has now been discovered that it is endogenously produced in healthy human erythrocytes from glucose via (PPP), which is a branch of glucose metabolism, present in all organisms *Pub Med, Katie C Hootman et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017. It is thought that enzymes expressed in the liver and kidney are the main contributors to erythritol in mammals *Pub Med, Lisa Schilicker et al. J Biol Chem. 2019. (A bit of nerdy stuff to help you know that erythritol does not need to be eaten to be seen in human plasma.)”trimhealthymama.com/so-its-...

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