this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2026
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[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

This clickbait bullshit should not be tolerated. The ingredient name in question is only one word, instead of the stupid sentence they used.

It’s xylitol. Shame on every shitbag sellout that decided to not just say that in the headline.

[–] Raiderkev@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Fr. Clickbait is bullshit. I worked at whole foods when Xylitol was first making its way onto the market as a "natural" 0 cal sweetener and I was always skeptical of it and never intentionally bought anything with it in it. I can't say I'm surprised to see this.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 hours ago

It’s good to be skeptical, but please don’t give this particular article toooo much weight. It’s not a real experiment, it’s just just an observation of correlation which doesn’t prove anything at all.

This website can show you plenty of other things that are extremely highly correlated. It really doesn’t prove anything.

[–] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

They're referring to Xylitol. Xylitol.

[–] shirro@aussie.zone 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Sugar alcohols are in a huge number of processed foods and might be responsible for a non negligible number of people feeling like shit. Fairly sure a local family owned bakery reduced some amount of sugar in their baked goods with sugar alcohols and it is not advertised and no ingredient list required unlike supermarkets. It is getting hard to escape stuff like this.

[–] minorkeys@sh.itjust.works 9 points 6 hours ago

So glad we let companies sell us whatever poison hasn't had enough research yet to show it's unsafe...

[–] bigbangdangler@reddthat.com 63 points 10 hours ago (7 children)

“In this observational work, however, it appears that xylitol has a negative long-term effect on cardiovascular events in the general population. As with all observational studies, causalities are difficult to infer, but this work shows that further studies are mandated into this societally important topic.”

This is important, because the outcome of the study is: we need more studies. It is not that xylitol has been shown to be dangerous, a jump so many comments have made.

There was an observed effect in people who had "high blood levels of xylitol". But there were few if any other controls:

The researchers also highlighted that the association was independent of underlying factors such as body mass index, hypertension, diabetes and lipid levels, which might predispose people to low-calorie products.

It's been known for a while that extremely high levels of xylitol can act as a diuretic, but that's true of a lot of other things, too. That's also not relevant here. It's important to not jump to unwarranted conclusions until more proper studies are conducted.

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[–] Stolas@lemmy.ca 5 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I was thinking a while ago that I missed chewing gum all the time and now I realize I may want to not pick up that habit again.

[–] Funkt4st1c@lemmy.world 5 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Xylitol is fantastic for dental health.

Im assuming theres some confounding factor like "people who chew a lot of gum and eat a lot of artificial sweeteners are also people who just eat a lot in general or have history of obesity/type 2 diabetes" or something until a dedicated study proves otherwise.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago

Seriously, being fat is also highly correlated with heart disease.

[–] brackled@lemmy.world 91 points 14 hours ago (3 children)

It is important to note that this was an observational study, meaning it can only show an association between higher xylitol levels and cardiovascular events, rather than proving that xylitol directly caused them, and further research is needed. But it is not a green light to have more sugar instead, as we still need to reduce our free sugar intake

Correlation vs Causation caveat is strongly needed here

[–] BillyClark@piefed.social 8 points 5 hours ago

Another note is that this is a sweetener, so it replaces sugar, and sugar is also linked to strokes and heart attacks through diabetes and obesity.

[–] fireweed@lemmy.world 18 points 12 hours ago

Nearly all dietary studies are correlation studies, unfortunately.

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[–] Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world 148 points 15 hours ago (3 children)
[–] Nomad@infosec.pub 20 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (3 children)

Xylotol in small amounts tastes sweet and kills the bacteria breaking you teeth. In large quantities it makes you shit hit liquid.

Edit: hit should have been hot as in burning, 37C not erotic. ;)

[–] W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

In large quantities it makes you shit hit liquid.

I guess I’ve never had a large quantity as I don’t know what it’s like to shit hit liquid.

[–] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 10 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I ate too many gummy bears and my toilet afterward went triple platinum

[–] W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 9 hours ago (1 children)
[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

You need more fiber in your diet. Eat a vegetable or a bean for once in your life.

[–] 0x0@infosec.pub 9 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (4 children)
[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 hours ago

Fun (?) fact, the reason why those sugarless Haribo Bears are so infamous isn’t because of Xylitol - but rather Maltitol.

I’m pretty good with most artificial sweeteners, but anything more than ~10g of Maltitol over the course of a day creates the sort of farts that clears rooms - and anything approaching 20g causes such horrendous diarrhoea that I wouldn’t even wish it upon my most constipated enemies.

Not to mention that Maltitol is also a bit of a bastard in that it still partially raises blood sugar levels - so most strict keto diets either abstain or count it as ~50% carbs.

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[–] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 36 points 15 hours ago (12 children)

That shit is killing dogs too. Should've been banned long time ago.

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