Xylit

Is xylitol harmful to health?

Until now, xylitol has been known and loved as a healthier sugar alternative, and it also has a health claim that it has been proven to reduce the risk of tooth decay.
According to a new study, there is now evidence that it increases the risk of thrombosis and therefore the risk of heart attacks, for example: Xylitol is prothrombotic and associated with cardiovascular risk

There are two things to consider here:

The amount you consume. In the study, the test subjects had to consume 30 g of xylitol.
The author of the study himself points out that other health circumstances need to be taken into account. Here is a quote from Die Zeit, online article from 16 June 2024: "Witkowski says that no one needs to be afraid of having a heart attack because they eat prunes or use toothpaste with xylitol. Rather, the combination of risk factors such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure paired with high concentrations of xylitol is probably a problem."

From this we conclude:

We consider small amounts of xylitol in the milligram range, such as would be ingested with a sweetened lozenge for vitamin B12, to be completely harmless!
We can recommend larger quantities, such as would be consumed with sweetened alkaline drinks or similar, to people who are not at risk of cardiovascular disease. People who are already overweight, have diabetes or high blood pressure or have a family history of thrombosis or illnesses such as heart attacks or strokes should avoid them.