Erythritol is a sugar alcohol widely used as a noncaloric sweetener in sugar-free products, such as keto-friendly snack bars, energy drinks, and sugar-free chewing gum. It has been approved as a food additive in the United States since 2001 and marketed as a healthy sugar alternative for individuals trying to lose weight or manage their blood sugar levels. The findings suggest it increases oxidative stress and reduces nitric oxide production in brain blood vessel cells, which may impair blood flow, contributing to a higher risk of vascular events like stroke. Researchers at the Integrative Vascular Biology Laboratory, University of Colorado Boulder, investigated how erythritol affects oxidative stress and nitric oxide production in brain blood vessel cells. In the lab, they exposed human brain blood vessel cells to an erythritol solution containing roughly the same amount found in a single can of artificially sweetened beverage (about 30 grams). They found that exposing cells to the amount of erythritol found in a single beverage serving caused significantly higher levels of oxidative stress compared to untreated cells. The study's authors note that this increased oxidative stress and reduced nitric oxide levels may contribute to the heightened risk of vascular diseases and events like stroke linked to erythritol. Erythritol may negatively impact brain and blood vessel health by directly interfering with cellular processes, according to experts. Berry told MNT that erythritol disrupts the production of nitric oxide, a molecule that is essential for blood vessels to relax and widen (dilate) as needed for proper blood flow. Erythritol does so “by interfering with a key activation step in the cells, making them less effective at producing [nitric oxide],” said Thomas M. Holland, MD, MS, a physician-scientist and assistant professor at the RUSH Institute for Healthy Aging, RUSH University, College of Health Sciences, who was not involved in the study. This reduced nitric oxide can impair blood vessel function, disrupt circulation, and potentially cause neurovascular damage, he explained. “Erythritol triggers a surge in harmful molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS), which cause cellular damage. Similarly, ROS's can cause damage in various organ systems leading to a slew of disease processes. Holland pointed out that while these findings are based on lab studies and may not fully replicate human physiology, they align with prior clinical observations linking erythritol to an increased risk of stroke and cardiovascular events. Holland commented that “this study offers valuable insights into the potential risks of erythritol on brain blood vessel health, especially for people seeking to improve or protect their vascular and cognitive function.” Berry agreed that individuals concerned about heart or brain health should consider limiting their intake, warning that “regular erythritol consumption may impair blood vessel health and function.” “Based on our cell studies and recent clinical studies, people should be conscious of the amount of erythritol they are consuming on a daily basis,” she emphasized. These can provide antioxidants when used sparingly, though they still impact blood sugar, he noted. For noncaloric sweeteners, he said, “stevia and monk fruit extract are wonderful and appear to be safer choices for now, as they don't appear to have the same adverse effects on oxidative stress or blood vessel health.” In this episode of our podcast, Feature Editor Maria Cohut discusses matters related to diet and heart health with Dr. Oyinlola Oyebode from Queen… This podcast episode examines two studies that assess the impact type 2 diabetes has on brain health and explores three lifestyle interventions that… Drinking okra water is a health trend on social media, but does it have any real benefits?

About 6.7 million adults in the U.S. are living with heart failure, and that number is expected to increase to more than 8 million by 2030. A new analysis published in Circulation: Heart Failure shows hospitals participating in the American Heart Association's multiregional IMPLEMENT-HF™ initiative significantly improved adherence to guideline-directed medical therapy for patients hospitalized with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), the most common type of heart failure. The goal: improve uptake of quadruple medical therapy and integrate health-related social needs assessments into routine care. Quadruple medical therapy is a combination of four evidence-based drugs proven to reduce mortality: angiotensin receptor–neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI), evidence-based specific β-blocker (BB), mineralocorticoid antagonist (MRA) and sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i). The study included data from more than 43,000 patients at 67 hospitals and found: "This initiative represents an important leap forward in closing the treatment gap in heart failure," said Andrew Sauer, M.D., American Heart Association volunteer, a lead author of the research and a cardiologist at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City. "By supporting collaborative learning and leveraging real-time data, IMPLEMENT-HF enabled hospitals to better serve patients in varied communities." HFrEF affects nearly half of people hospitalized for heart failure and carries a 75% five-year mortality rate. Although clinical trials have shown that quadruple therapy can significantly improve survival, use of this treatment has remained low nationwide, particularly among underrepresented populations. By creating a structured, "all-teach, all-learn" environment, the Association's initiative offered participants tools for identifying care gaps, sharing best practices and monitoring performance at both hospital and regional levels. Mariell Jessup, M.D., chief science and medical officer, American Heart Association Explore how the Radian ASAP mass spectrometer is being used to streamline and enhance seized drug screening. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Using the unique immune system of a self-immunized human, researchers engineered a three-part antivenom that neutralizes the world's deadliest snakes, offering hope for a universal, safer, and more accessible treatment against snakebites. Death Adder snake (Acanthophis antarticus) native to Australia. By using antibodies from a human donor with a self-induced hyper-immunity to snake venom, scientists have developed the most broadly effective antivenom to date. In mouse trials, it is protective against the black mamba, king cobra, and tiger snakes, as well as several other medically significant snakes across the Elapidae family. How we make antivenom has not changed much over the past century. Typically, it involves immunizing horses or sheep with venom from a single snake species and collecting the antibodies produced. While effective, this process could result in adverse reactions to the non-human antibodies, and treatments tend to be species and region-specific. While exploring ways to improve this process, scientists stumbled upon someone hyper-immune to the effects of snake neurotoxins. "The donor, for a period of nearly 18 years, had undertaken hundreds of bites and self-immunizations with escalating doses from 16 species of very lethal snakes that would normally a kill a horse," says first author Jacob Glanville, CEO of Centivax, Inc. After the donor, Tim Friede, agreed to participate in the study, researchers found that he had generated antibodies that were effective against several snake neurotoxins at once by exposing himself to the venom of various snakes over several years. "Not only did he potentially create these broadly neutralizing antibodies, in this case, it could give rise to a broad-spectrum or universal antivenom." This group contains roughly half of all venomous species, including coral snakes, mambas, cobras, taipans, and kraits. Next, researchers isolated target antibodies from the donor's blood that reacted with neurotoxins found within the snake species tested. One by one, the antibodies were tested in mice envenomated from each species included in the panel. In this way, scientists could systematically build a cocktail comprising a minimum but sufficient number of components to render all the venoms ineffective. The team formulated a mixture comprising three major components: two antibodies isolated from the donor and a small molecule. Finally, they added a second antibody isolated from the donor, called SNX-B03, which extended protection across the full panel. Structural studies showed these antibodies bind to conserved sites on the neurotoxins, directly blocking the toxin's interaction with its target in the nervous system, a key reason for their broad activity. "By the time we reached 3 components, we had a dramatically unparalleled breadth of full protection for 13 of the 19 species and then partial protection for the remaining that we looked at," says Glanville. "We were looking down at our list and thought, 'what's that fourth agent'? Even without a fourth agent, their results suggest that the three-part cocktail could be effective against many other, if not most, elapid snakes not tested in this study. The researchers noted that in some cases, not all mice survived beyond 24 hours, sometimes due to the short half-life of the small-molecule inhibitor varespladib, which may require redosing or longer-acting alternatives for complete protection. This underlines that while the cocktail provided robust and often complete protection, further optimization may improve its efficacy, especially for the most challenging venoms. The coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus), or common taipan, is a species of extremely venomous snake in the family Elapidae. "We're turning the crank now, setting up reagents to go through this iterative process of saying what's the minimum sufficient cocktail to provide broad protection against venom from the viperids," says lead author Peter Kwong, Richard J. At present, the newly developed cocktail is effective across the Elapidae family, but not yet against viperid snakes; work is ongoing to extend this approach. "This is critical, because although there are millions of snake envenomations per year, the majority of those are in the developing world, disproportionately affecting rural communities," Glanville says. Explore how the Radian ASAP mass spectrometer is being used to streamline and enhance seized drug screening. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.