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Erythritol May Damage Critical Brain Barrier, Risking Stroke

32 points| Gaishan | 19 days ago |sciencealert.com

17 comments

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2sweet|11 days ago

"Erythritol linked to brain cell damage and stroke risk" (2025-07) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44621268#44641500 :

> What percentage of cardiovascular "plaque" is sugar alcohol and thus apparently treatable with β or α cyclodextrin, in controls and patients with conditions like Arteriosclerosis and Atherosclerosis?

DivingForGold|19 days ago

~20 years ago I bought a 50 Lb. bulk bag of Erythritol directly from Cargill.

Over the next decade I consumed the whole bag, most of it mixed into plain yogurt.

Now I wonder if my brain is damaged, or I am susceptible to stroke.

dlcarrier|18 days ago

The article says it damages the blood-brain barrier, not the brain. A damaged blood-brain barrier increases the chances of illnesses and drugs affecting the brain, but in and off itself damaging the blood-brain barrier doesn't directly damage the brain.

nerdsniper|19 days ago

Less “may” and more “medical consensus is that it absolutely does”. This is actually quite well studied.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44623976

Edit, feeding the sea-lion: Cleveland Clinic has called for a re-evaluation of erythritol's "GRAS" status:

> the present findings suggest that discussion of whether erythritol should be reevaluated as a food additive with the Generally Recognized as Safe designation is warranted.

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/ATVBAHA.124.321...

> erythritol may not be as safe as currently classified by food regulatory agencies and should be reevaluated as an ingredient

https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2024/08/08/cleveland-cl...

gruez|19 days ago

>medical consensus is that it absolutely does

If it's actually "medical consensus", you'd find government agencies or professional organizations calling for bans, at least making announcements that it's harmful.

edit:

in response to OP's edit, I'm still not satisfied given that the statement is to call for its GRAS status to be reevaluated, when I specifically mentioned "announcements that it's harmful". At best that's "medical consensus" for "GRAS status should be reevaluated", not "medical consensus is that it absolutely [harmful]".

DustinEchoes|19 days ago

Does the BBB recover after you stop consuming erythritol?

NedF|19 days ago

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