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DON’T BELIEVE THE PROPAGANDA AND THE HYPE!

Q: What is Hammer Nutrition’s response to the recent headlines about xylitol and its supposed negative effects on cardiovascular health?

A: There have been a LOT of headlines lately on xylitol, but we find that they are ALL overly sensationalistic and do not consider much of the actual xylitol study. These headlines are nothing more than scare tactics, and they do a disservice to people looking for reliable and legitimate information.

OUR POSITION: This study, just as is the case with the erythritol study, can show only an association between xylitol and heart risk, a v-e-r-y weak one. It absolutely does not show that xylitol caused or causes a higher incidence of heart attack, stroke, or death.

The information provided below and other variables not accounted for in the study, would make this research more reliable. Dr. F. Perry Wilson said this about the erythritol study—performed by the same research team that did this xylitol study—and we believe it applies here as well: “We shouldn’t be thinking about the results of the study in a vacuum. Even if erythritol does truly increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, it still is replacing sugar, which almost certainly has more pernicious health effects.”

Here are some of the “red flags” and flaws in the xylitol study:

  1. As xylitol is found in several fruits and some vegetables and is naturally produced by the body, calling it an artificial sweetener, as some “scientists” do, is incorrect.
     
  2. In the study, the investigators measured the level of naturally occurring xylitol in the blood of more than 3,000 participants after overnight fasting. They found that people whose xylitol levels put them in the top 25% of the study group had approximately double the risk for heart attack, stroke, or death over the next three years compared to people in the bottom quarter. This is all based on ONE collection of blood and its xylitol content.
     
  3. Xylitol content in the blood, but not xylitol intake via the diet, was considered. No history of the participants’ dietary practices before the study or in the 3-year follow-up period was mentioned in the research. Dr. Leonardo Sodre writes, “At no point did the study's author evaluate the consumption of xylitol, but rather the presence of this type of molecule in the blood.”
     
  4. The majority of the participants—average age 64 years old—were very sick to begin with. Many were overweight, had diabetes, hypertension, a history of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, coronary heart disease, stenosis (“the narrowing or restriction of a blood vessel or valve that reduces blood flow), and heart failure. Many were also taking statin medications, which, according to the American Heart Association: “lower cardiovascular event risk, yet paradoxically increase coronary artery calcification, a marker consistently associated with increased cardiovascular risks.”
     
  5. The study of naturally occurring xylitol in people’s blood was observational and can show only an association between xylitol and heart risk. It does NOT show that xylitol CAUSED a higher incidence of heart attack, stroke, or death. According to one site, “Observational studies are a lower standard of evidence than experimental studies, are more prone to bias and confounding, and cannot be used to demonstrate causality.” What would seem far more responsible clearly is the participants' health and dietary practices (the latter was not mentioned or recorded in the research).

More information, including charts outlining the participants’ health and other factors, is available upon request at support@hammernutrition.com

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