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eritritol

WHAT IS ERYTHRITOL AND HOW TO USE IT

Written by missblasco on . Posted in BLOG, SUGAR FREE.

 

When choosing a sweetener, you may be unsure about the suitability of one or another. You may have heard various comments or read articles in the press that have raised doubts.

Today there are many options, but only a few can be considered the best from different points of view, erythritol is one of them.

If you want to know a little more about this non-caloric polyol, keep reading.

What is erythritol?

Erythritol is a polyol, it has no calories and when consumed, approximately 90% is absorbed in the small intestine, and only 10% passes into the colon, so a laxative effect is very rare and would only occur in the case of excessive intake.

Various health authorities (including the FDA and the WHO) endorse the safety of its consumption, but an exact dose has not been established.

A consumption of up to 1 g per kg of weight/day is considered safe, but I would not take that much, I will explain why later.

 

Erythritol is also found in fruits, vegetables, and fermented beverages such as sake.

 

If we talk about erythritol from natural sources, which is present in fruits, vegetables and fermented beverages, it is estimated that in the USA its consumption is 25 mg/person/day and in Japan 100 mg/person/day.

The good thing about erythritol is that it does not leave an aftertaste in food and can be used at high temperatures.

It may happen that if it is abused, it has effects laxatives in some people and cause gas, especially in children.

Its main advantage is that it is absorbed in the small intestine, but is not metabolized, so it has no effects on blood glucose levels, which is very beneficial for diabetics.

It is also good for preventing tooth decay, because it inhibits the growth of some oral bacteria, and because it neutralizes the acidic pH caused by bacteria in the mouth.

 

The use of erythritol and other sweeteners should be moderate, and only in those recipes that require it.

 

Why should I moderate the use of sweeteners?

Sweeteners should be taken in moderation because we do not want our body to get used to sweet and that, even avoiding sugar and traditional sweets, you still feel dependent on it.

Let me explain, if we want to avoid consuming sugar, the first thing we must do is teach our brain that we can eat very tasty things without reaching that sweetness threshold.

We must educate the palate and get our body used to not being dependent on sweets, this can only be achieved by limiting its consumption, and progressively lowering that sweetness threshold to which we have been accustomed.

 

eritritol

 

And indeed, we must look for substitutes, because our body will ask for them, but what kind of substitutes?

 

Fooling your brain with hyper-sweet foods based on sweeteners is not going to solve the problem.

 

If what we do is prepare recipes with the same level of sweetness as the originals, but based on sweeteners, in the long run, we are not going to solve the problem.

Our body will continue to be dependent on those sweet foods, we will be fooling our brain, and we will not notice the benefits of reducing sugar consumption.

Looking for substitutes means satisfying that sweet moment with something else, and here the winning option is usually dark chocolate, with a high percentage of cocoa, and low in sugar.

You don’t need to buy chocolate with sweeteners, what you should do is get used to its somewhat bitter taste, start with one that contains 75% cocoa and then continue with 85%.

It is possible that later you will like the 95% one, but if not, don’t worry, an ounce of dark chocolate with 85% cocoa is perfectly valid for those moments of weakness.

Don’t make sweet desserts a habit, put them aside from your daily routine and make them only when you want to celebrate something or when you really feel like changing your routine, but not as a regular thing.

 

If a recipe contains syrups, honey, dates or panela, it is NOT a recipe “WITHOUT SUGAR”.

 

Be careful with “SUGAR-FREE” recipes

“SUGAR-FREE” shouldn’t just mean “no refined white sugar”, it should mean “no sugar of any kind”, why do I saythis? Because it generates a lot of confusion. Many people, diabetics, pre-diabetics, with different metabolic diseases or who are trying to lose weight, acting in good faith, think that these recipes are suitable for them, but the reality is very different. It doesn’t matter if you suffer from diabetes or not, it doesn’t matter if you suffer from some disease called metabolic syndrome* or not, if what you want is to eat healthy, none of those sugars are good for you, at least you should never abuse them. I’m not going to tell you that you can’t have a sweet from time to time, I won’t tell you not to try honey, but I am telling you that even if you are in good health, if what you want is to maintain it, don’t abuse it. In this sense, the flood of recipes circulating on the networks is impressive, there are breakfast bowls that are authentic sugar bombs, and they are presented to you as the height of breakfast healthy.

There are cakes, muffins, banana-based sponge cakes, with dates, that far exceed the amount of sugar that the traditional yogurt sponge cake has, but that are supposedly the best.

These recipes usually come with the term “healthy” or “healthy”, and they make us think that they really are, but they are not.

The true nutritional education is there, in knowing what foods we should consume and which ones we should not, and that, although it seems very simple, is not so much.

 

To eliminate sugar consumption, the first thing is to become aware of your actual daily consumption, and then act.

 

Sometimes getting the message across is difficult, and saying “eat less sugar” is easy, but very Often the recipient thinks… And how do I do it?

That is why nutritional advice and education are essential, to provide tools and not stay in the slogan.

Where to start?

Start little by little, first by becoming aware of the problem, and visualizing the amount of sugar you consume daily. (That’s why initiatives like sinazucar.org are so interesting; they present the problem in a graphic way.) Try eliminating the sugar you add to your coffee and tea, or the sugar you add to your orange juice or yogurt. If you have children, get them used to drinking plain milk, eating yogurt as is, and eating fruit as is. The idea is to create an environment at home where you’re all moving in the same direction. Then, cut down on the sugary drinks and desserts you eat each week. Leave it for just one special day, probably the weekend; that’s up to you. Supplement your sweet tooth with an ounce of dark chocolate, some homemade sugar-free fruit jelly, or a piece of fruit. You don’t have to eat the whole thing if you’re not hungry. And if you’re excited, try preparing a dessert sometime. day, then sweeten it with erythritol and enjoy it as something special.

You know what? By incorporating this behavior into your daily life you will enjoy everything much more, you will be able to value that “dessert” moment as a reward, and not as something routine that no longer satisfies you, think about it.

Erythritol is less sweet than sugar, it provides between 70 and 80% of its sweetness.

 

My (updated) opinion on the use of sweeteners and, specifically, erythritol:

  • It is suitable for consumption on a ketogenic diet and in any “low carb” diet.
  • Sweeteners should be used in moderation, that is, only for special occasions. For example, a dessert on a Sunday with the family or in a cake to celebrate a birthday, nothing more.
  • Don’t get used to drinking large quantities; if you need to sweeten your coffee, settle for a small teaspoon and try to reduce the dose until you can drink it without anything. The ideal is to avoid any sweetener.
  • Educate your body, your brain, your palate, and reduce the sweetness threshold in your recipes. erythritol is easy to find because it is less sweet. until you can do without it and other sweeteners-
  • Always buy 100% erythritol, sometimes it comes mixed with other sweeteners to make it sweeter, I prefer it alone.
  • Everything I tell you applies to children, or are you going to take care of yourself while you continue stuffing your children with huge amounts of sugar? The best time to create good habits is childhood, don’t waste it.

 

Despite its many advantages, it also has some drawbacks.

 

Disadvantages of consuming erythritol:

  • The first, discovered very recently (2023) is its possiblerelationship with cardiovascular accidents, but the truth is that, as David Sinclair states “The article shows a strong association with heart attacks in people with CVD (cardiovascular disease) and increases clotting in blood vessels grown in the laboratory. That said, the association is not proven causality, and the effects on healthy people are not known.” (See the article attached at the end of the entry). (1)
  • Excessive consumption can cause gastric problems and flatulence. Review the extensive study published by the WHO (2).
  • Its consumption, nor that of other sweeteners, should not be abused to control our dependence on sweet foods.
  • It is not suitable for FODMAP diets (those prescribed for irritable bowel syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis), in which polyols such as xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, and mannitol are eliminated.

 

 

*Diseases that make up metabolic syndrome (MS):

A patient is considered to have MS if they suffer from at least 3 of these diseases.

  • Dyslipidemias
  • High blood pressure (HBP)
  • Diabetes
  • Obesity
  • Coronary artery disease

 

With this entry I hope to have shed some light on the use of this product, and on the need to change our habits, if it has helped you, share it so that more people learn about it erythritol and the use of sweeteners in our daily lives.

And if you have any questions, write to me. You can do so privately through my email: mail@missblasco.com or leave your comment here on the blog.

Cheers! 😉

 

Related articles:

  • (1) Witkowski, M., Nemet, I., Alamri, H., Wilcox, J., Gupta, N., Nimer, N., Haghikia, A., Li, X. S., Wu, Y., Saha, P. P., Demuth, I., König, M., Steinhagen-Thiessen, E., Cajka, T., Fiehn, O., Landmesser, U., Tang, W. H. W., & Hazen, S. L. (2023). The artificial sweetener erythritol and cardiovascular event risk. Nature medicine, 10.1038/s41591-023-02223-9. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02223-9
  • (2) https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240046429

 

Some of my recipes sweetened with erythritol:

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