Erythritol is an organic compound, a four-carbon sugar alcohol used as a food additive and sugar substitute.
It is naturally occurring.
It can be made from corn using enzymes and fermentation.
Erythritol is 60–70% as sweet as sucrose (table sugar).
It is almost completely noncaloric[ and does not affect blood sugar or cause tooth decay.
Erythritol occurs naturally in some fruit and fermented foods, and
occurs in human body fluids such as eye lens tissue, serum, plasma, fetal fluid, and urine.
Used as a sweetener and flavor-enhancer in food and beverage products, and is approved for use by government regulatory agencies of more than 60 countries:
coffee and tea, liquid dietary supplements, juice blends, soft drinks, flavored water product variations, with foods including confections, biscuits and cookies, tabletop sweeteners, and sugar-free chewing gum.
The mild sweetness of erythritol allows for a volume-for-volume replacement of sugar.
Erythritol is absorbed rapidly into the blood, with peak amounts occurring in under two hours.
80 to 90% of an oral dose is excreted unchanged in the urine within 24 hours.
At a content of 1.6% in beverages it is not considered to have a laxative effect.
The upper limit of tolerance is 0.78 and 0.71 grams per kg body weight in adults and children, respectively.
It has a caloric value of 0.2 calories per gram (95% less than sugar and other carbohydrates).
The FDA has not made its own determination regarding the generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status of erythritol, but has accepted the conclusion that erythritol is GRAS as submitted to it by several food manufacturers.
Most erythritol is absorbed into the bloodstream in the small intestine, and then for the most part excreted unchanged in the urine.
About 10% enters the colon.
Erythritol does not normally cause laxative effects and gas or bloating, as is often experienced after consumption of other sugar alcohols, such as, maltitol, sorbitol, xylitol, and lactitol.
About 90% is absorbed before it enters the large intestine.
It is not digested by intestinal bacteria, the remaining 10% is excreted in the feces.
Large doses can cause nausea, stomach rumbling and watery feces.
Rarely, it can cause allergic urticaria.
The glycemic index (GI) of erythritol is 0% of the GI for glucose and the insulin index (II) is 2% of the II for glucose.
It does not contribute to tooth decay.
Erythritol, similarly to xylitol, has antibacterial effects against streptococci bacteria, reduces dental plaque, and may be protective against tooth decay.
Erythritol has a strong cooling effect when it dissolves in water, which is often compared with the cooling effect of mint flavors.
It functions as an insecticide toxic to the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, impairing motor ability and reducing longevity.
Erythritol is preferentially used by the Brucella spp.
Patients with higher blood erythritol levels are at elevated risk of experiencing a major adverse cardiac event such as heart attack, stroke or death.
Erythritol made platelets easier to activate and form a clot.
Pre-clinical studies confirmed ingestion of erythritol heightened clot formation.
Erythritol are often recommended for people who have obesity, diabetes or metabolic syndrome and with these conditions they are at higher risk for adverse cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke.
In a study evaluating 1157 patients an association between the level of erythritol in the blood and the risk of a major cardiovascular event over a period of three years was confirmed.
Experimental studies indicate erythritol enhances platelet activation, in vitro, as well as thrombosis formation in human blood and in the carotid arteries of mice.
Healthy volunteers who drank and erythritol sweetened soft drink had circulating levels oferythritol that were within a range consistent with platelet activation.
Erythritol is about 70% as sweet as sugar and is produced through fermenting corn.
After ingestion, erythritol is poorly metabolized, by the body, and leaves the body mainly through urine.
The human body creates low amounts of erythritol naturally, so any additional consumption can accumulate.
Erythritol is Recognized As Safe by the FDA, which means there is no requirement for long-term safety studies.
The amount of erythritol found in many processed foods, markedly elevate levels in the blood that is observed for days that can enhance clotting risks.