A common low-calorie sweetener raises the risk of blood clotting

The low-calorie sweetener erythritol makes blood cells more prone to clotting. This may explain why it has been linked to a greater risk of heart attack and stroke in recent studies of people already susceptible to these conditions.

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol found at low concentrations in fruits and vegetables that is about 70 per cent as sweet as sugar. It contains almost no calories, making it a popular sugar substitute, especially in the US and Europe, says Stanley Hazen at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. For several decades,…