The Study
Associations between artificial sweeteners and cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes: A Mendelian randomization study
This study didn't give people erythritol to see what happens—it used people's genes as a clue to guess what might happen if they had more erythritol their whole life. It found a tiny link, but that doesn't mean eating erythritol causes heart problems—it just suggests there might be a connection we need to study more.
Analysis score
Maximum 0 for a computational/algorithm study.
Where the score came from
Scientists used your genes to see if having more erythritol in your blood over your whole life makes heart attacks or strokes more likely.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 50 / 100
Quality score
Based on clinical experience or non-systematic literature reviews. The lowest level of evidence as they are most susceptible to bias and personal perspective.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1These risks are very small for one person, but since so many people eat erythritol daily, even tiny risks could add up to more heart problems across the whole population.
- 2People with genes linked to higher erythritol had a 0.2% higher risk of heart disease, 0.15% higher risk of heart attack, and 4.6% higher risk of stroke — all tiny but real.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
American Journal of Preventive Cardiology
Year
2025
Authors
Jinming Fan, Yifei Hu, Junzhu Zhang, Jiawen Chen, Yajun Yuan, Benshuai Yu
Related Content
Claims (6)
People who consume more artificial sweeteners in their diet have a higher rate of cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and coronary heart disease.
People with genetically higher predicted levels of erythritol have a slightly higher risk of cardiovascular events, and this pattern holds across multiple statistical methods.
People with a genetic tendency to have higher levels of erythritol in their blood do not have a different risk of developing heart failure or type 2 diabetes compared to others.
Research on erythritol has only been done on people of European ancestry, so the results may not apply to people from other ethnic backgrounds because of biological and dietary differences.
People with genetically higher levels of erythritol in their blood have a slightly increased risk of developing coronary heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke.
Genetic markers used to estimate erythritol exposure cannot tell whether the erythritol comes from food or the body's own production, so any link between erythritol and cardiovascular risk may reflect total lifetime exposure rather than the effect of eating erythritol-sweetened products.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.