Recently, there was a research paper that came out that highlighted the association between high concentrations of erythritol in the blood and risk of heart disease. To ensure our products are always safe for our customers, we did our own research and found that the link between erythritol intake and cardiovascular disease risk in this research article was determined using association. This means that, in a group of people, it was found that those that had a high risk for cardiovascular disease also had high levels of erythritol in their blood. Whether causation can be established, (i.e., cardiovascular disease was directly caused by erythritol intake), requires further research.
We found that there were also some confounding variables that were important to keep in mind to better put this research into context. For example, they recruited participants that already had a high risk of cardiovascular disease, which limits the applicability of the results to the general population. They also did not collect data on the dietary intake of erythritol – therefore, they don’t know how much erythritol the participants already had in their body prior to the study. Another important point to consider is that we also naturally produce erythritol in our bodies (we can convert glucose into erythritol14), which was not accounted for in this research article. In addition, the erythritol serving used in this study was 30 g in a day. On average, our gummies that have erythritol contain between 1-2 g per serving.
There are other studies that have been published on the health effects of consuming erythritol, and there has been extensive research done in regard to the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of erythritol by the human body, as well as long and short term studies regarding its toxicity and potential reproductive, developmental, genotoxic, and carcinogenic effects in animal studies. These studies conclude that the consumption of erythritol does not produce evidence of toxicity, even at very high intakes. Based on this information, we have decided to keep our gummies as they are, but we will definitely keep up to date on the research!