Sweeteners, Strokes, Weight Loss and Brain Fog Risks
It’s a tempting way to reduce sugar, but could it be affecting your overall health?
Regular readers know I do not like sweeteners for two reasons. First, research shows that sweeteners do not help with weight loss because the body looks for sugar in other forms.
Second, and more importantly, they have been linked to various health risks, and a new one has just been reported.
I understand that weight gain is a big concern during menopause, and there are many healthy ways to address this, such as using bioidentical progesterone to balance hormone-related weight loss, along with watching your diet, exercise, and lifestyle.
However, I believe it is essential for you to have as much information as possible so you can make informed choices about weight loss.
New findings on sweeteners
A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that the sweetener erythritol affects several functions in human brain blood vessel cells. This raises concerns that its impact goes beyond just blood sugar and calories, linking erythritol to possible heart risks, like higher chances of heart attacks and strokes.
Erythritol is in many sweeteners and sugar-free products, so it is vital to always read the labels. The study showed that erythritol increased oxidative stress and reduced nitric oxide production by about 30%, which disrupts a key process that helps blood vessels relax and control blood flow, leading to poorer blood vessel function.
Cells exposed to erythritol did not activate their normal response when given a clotting signal in order to clear clots, suggesting another way the sweetener could harm healthy brain blood vessel function.
A single 30-gram dose of erythritol — roughly the amount in one commercially sweetened drink — was enough to disrupt several functions in human brain blood vessel cells, according to the study.
How this can affect your health
Erythritol has become popular as a sugar substitute because it is sweet but has very few calories and does not raise blood sugar or insulin levels much.
However, these facts do not give a complete picture of how it affects the body. Your blood sugar response is just one part of the whole situation. New research is asking a different question.
What happens in the cells that line the smallest blood vessels in your brain after exposure to erythritol?
Your brain relies on these tiny vessels to control blood flow, remove clots, and handle inflammation. When researchers tested erythritol directly on these cells, they found problems in every area they studied.
When people want to lose weight or start a diet, they often use sweeteners to cut calories.
I have talked about the downsides of sweeteners for many years. Previous research shows that not only do they not help with weight loss, but they might also cause issues with memory and concentration.
A study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, adds more evidence that using sugar substitutes may be linked to cognitive decline.
Sugar substitutes linked to 62% faster decline in thinking, and memory skills
Where it all started
Low-calorie sweeteners and sugar substitutes have been used since the early 1900s, and past studies suggest they may pose health risks, including problems with thinking.
Since the 1970s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved only six sugar substitutes for use in food. These include saccharin, sucralose, aspartame, sugar alcohols like xylitol and erythritol, and plant-based substitutes like stevia and monk fruit.
Currently, erythritol is being closely examined due to a recent study, alongside other research that indicates possible health risks associated with sugar substitutes, including harmful effects on gut bacteria.
Low-calorie sweeteners have also been linked to a higher risk of health issues, such as heart attacks and strokes.
In a significant study, researchers recruited over 12,000 adults from Brazil, with an average age of 52. They followed the participants for about eight years, which is noteworthy due to the large number of participants and the length of the study.
This previous study looked at artificial sweeteners including aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame-K, erythritol, xylitol, and sorbitol.
Claudia Kimie Suemoto, MD, PhD, an associate professor of geriatrics at the University of São Paulo in Brazil and the lead author of the study, discussed it in Medical News Today.
“Previous studies had already shown that artificial sweeteners were linked to several health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and depression, but their potential impact on cognition had not been investigated.
Wellsprings Weight Control Capsules
Natural support for metabolism and weight management during menopause.
Learn MoreIn our own prior work with the ELSA-Brasil study, we found that higher consumption of ultra processed foods was associated with faster cognitive decline, and many sugar-free ultra-processed foods contain artificial sweeteners,”
62% faster decline in cognition with sweetener use
At the end of that study, researchers found that participants who consumed the most sugar substitutes, averaging 191 mg per day, experienced a 62% faster decline in their thinking and memory skills compared to those who consumed the least, about 20 mg per day.
This suggests that people who use a lot of sweeteners may experience cognitive aging more quickly than expected, increasing their risk of mental decline later in life.
Participants who consumed the highest amounts of artificial sweeteners showed memory and thinking skill declines similar to what we would expect after 1.6 additional years of aging. This does not mean that you may suddenly feel older. It indicates that their brain function may be deteriorating more quickly.
The important point is that even small increases in cognitive decline, if they continue over many years, could raise the risk of earlier or more severe mental issues later in life.
Cognitive decline and dementia are believed to start developing years before any symptoms are visible, so exposure to these sweeteners during middle age may speed up this process and have lasting effects.
The fastest decline was seen in those under 60 who also had diabetes.
While the study cannot prove that sweeteners directly cause this decline, the strong link raises concerns that regular sweetener consumption may not be safe. It highlights the need for more research and for people to be careful with long-term use.
Helpful information
If weight gain is a Concern, do check your hormone balances focussing on dealing with any oestrogen dominant and increasing your progesterone levels with Serenity, plus the weight control Capsules if you need some extra help, is a very effective first step.
If you need some help in reducing sweeteners, it doesn’t mean giving up sweet foods or the carbohydrates your body needs for energy. A few practical changes will help you reduce erythritol while still enjoying naturally sweet, whole-food options.
1. Remove products with added erythritol from your routine — and that means checking ingredients on food and drinks marketed as sugar-free, low-sugar or keto-friendly. It is often used as a bulk sweetener, so these products expose you to amounts far beyond the tiny quantities naturally present in some foods.
It can also show up in products you might not associate with sugar-free sweeteners, including protein bars, flavoured waters, chewable supplements and even some toothpastes and mouthwashes.
2. Don’t replace erythritol with another artificial sweetener — Swapping erythritol for a different one doesn’t address the larger problem of relying on highly processed substitutes for sweetness. Instead, retrain your palate by making naturally sweet whole foods your first choice.
Fresh fruit is one of the easiest options and when want added sweetness Energy small amounts of raw honey or maple syrup are other options. Raw honey works well in tea or with grass fed yogurt, while maple syrup adds sweetness to oatmeal and other whole-food meals.
3. Choose natural carbohydrates instead of sugar-free processed foods — Your body needs carbohydrates for energy, and whole fruit such as oranges, apples, berries and ripe bananas provide natural sugars along with other nutrients. Sweet potatoes and other root vegetables are additional options.
4. Retrain your taste buds to need less sweetness — If nearly every snack, drink or meal tastes intensely sweet, your palate becomes accustomed to that level of sweetness. Instead of focusing only on finding the perfect replacement for erythritol, gradually make your foods and drinks less sweet overall.
Try cutting the amount of sweetener you add to in half for one week. Once that tastes normal, cut it in half again. Within a few weeks, you’ll notice that food tastes sweeter than it used to. Over time, this helps you break the cycle of constantly seeking intensely sweet flavours and so avoiding erythritol and other processed sweeteners becomes easier.
Losing weight is never easy, and it can certainly be very tempting to turn to something that would seem at first glance to help you with that.
My view?
The message I have taken from these studies is that there really is no substitute for a healthy diet and if sweeteners are a must for you then try to cut down their use and frequency. Remember that cutting anything out suddenly is usually too drastic.
If your reason for using them is to lose weight then it is better to focus on hormone balance with a very specific healthy diet that is effective such as the Mediterranean diet.
I know that in addition to weight gain, brain fog is also a worrying issue at Menopause so that is related to low progesterone levels so Serenity can make a difference to there as well.
This article can also be helpful.
https://blog.wellsprings-health.com/forgetfulness-brain-fog-and-ageing-whats-normal/
