🤔❓I thought this sweetener was safe!

Finding a recipe for keto mug cake saved me in my early sugar-free days.

I didn't make it but once or twice a year. But I knew it was there, I knew it was possible.

And so I read with great interest this recent study raising questions about the health consequences of my favorite sugar-free sweetener.

My mission is to empower people to achieve real health through real food. Today, we may have another reason to dampen that sweet tooth.

Let's talk about it.

❓ The Sweet That Helped Me Quit Sugar

I didn’t let my Swerve languish, unloved.

(And yes, I learned to keep it in the fridge for best results.)

I baked.

Muffins, bar cookies, mug cakes.

Low-carb versions of the foods I used to crave.

There was a stretch when I was living with my oldest daughter, who has a serious sweet tooth, where those treats became part of our routine. I made a deal with her.

We would have something sweet every day. Just not sugar.

I baked once a week, and we ate those treats all week long.

And it worked. She stepped away from the chocolate muffins.

The constant sugar stopped.

❓ New Research on a Popular Keto Sweetener

Cause for Concern

A new study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology examined how the sugar substitute erythritol affects cells that line the brain’s blood vessels.

Researchers exposed human brain microvascular endothelial cells to erythritol at levels meant to reflect a typical serving.

They found several concerning changes.

Cells exposed to erythritol showed increased oxidative stress, reduced nitric oxide signaling (which helps blood vessels relax), and higher levels of endothelin-1, a compound that promotes vessel constriction.

They also observed a reduced ability to support the breakdown of blood clots.

Taken together, these changes suggest a shift toward conditions that could increase stroke risk.

As the authors note, these effects may contribute to “vascular dysfunction,” which plays a central role in both stroke and cognitive decline.

Important Limitations

It is important to be clear about what this study does and does not show.

This was a cell study, not a human trial. It does not prove that consuming erythritol causes strokes or brain damage.

But it does identify a plausible biological mechanism that raises reasonable questions, especially given how widely this sweetener is used.

If you’d like to read the original research, you can find it here:

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00276.2025

❓ Headline: One Alarm Too Strong?

I first came across this research through an article in ScienceDaily with a striking headline about “brain damage” and stroke risk.

It got my attention immediately.

And to be fair, the leap they are making is not coming out of nowhere.

If the cells that line blood vessels in the brain are under stress, less able to relax, and less able to help break down clots, then yes, you can see how that could increase stroke risk over time. And strokes, by definition, cause brain damage.

That part is logical.

Where the headline goes too far is in how certain it sounds.

Because this study did not look at people. It did not track stroke outcomes. It did not show that consuming erythritol leads to brain damage.

It showed that, under specific laboratory conditions, cells responded in ways that could move things in the wrong direction.

That is an early signal. A meaningful one. But still a step removed from real life.

So I don’t read this as proof.

I read it as a nudge.

Something to pay attention to, especially when it lines up with a broader pattern we are already seeing around ultra-processed foods and metabolic health.

If you’d like to see the article that brought this to my attention, you can read it here:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260328065333.htm

❓ To Swerve or Not To Swerve?

Over time, I drifted away from baking those keto treats.

It took effort. My daughter was not home as often. And it was expensive!

More importantly, my thinking about food evolved.

I stopped eating merely to avoid carbs and started eating intentionally for Nutrition First.

That shift matters.

Because when we define food by what it isn’t—no sugar, no carbs—we can fool ourselves.

We’ve seen this before.

Zero sugar does not mean healthy. And it may not mean harmless either.

My beloved Swerve may yet fall into that category.

☀️ How Is Your Sweet Tooth?

Real food is my baseline.

And today, I must acknowledge that erythritol is not a real food!

But one cupcake never killed anyone, whether sweetened with sugar or Swerve.

The risk is in the dose.

I am not tossing my Swerve.

But neither am I baking and eating treats every day.

Are you eating for Nutrition First?

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Until next time, stay strong, wise, kind, and good.

Choose real food for real health.