Purpose

The purpose is to conduct a dietary intervention study in which human participants will consume beverages sweetened with erythritol or aspartame, each for 2 weeks, in a randomized crossover design

Conditions

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 18 Years and 70 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Inclusion Criteria

  • BMI ≥ 27 kg/m2

Exclusion Criteria

  • • History of blood clot, transient ischemic attack (TIA), stroke, angina, heart attack, or peripheral vascular disease, or current cancer diagnosis. - Pregnant or lactating women - Current, prior (within 12 months), or anticipated use of medications for treatment of hyperlipidemia, high blood pressure or diabetes, or any medication that in the opinion of the investigators will confound results. - Unwilling to forego the use of anti-inflammatory medication during study. - Unwilling to forego the use of marijuana during the study. - Use of tobacco. - Strenuous exerciser (>4 hours/week at a level more vigorous than walking). - Surgery or medication for weight loss. - Diet exclusions: Food allergies or dietary restrictions that may undermine compliance to dietary protocol, routine ingestion of more than 2 sugar-sweetened beverages or 2 alcoholic beverage/day. Unwillingness to consume artificial or noncaloric sweeteners. Habitual consumption (>10 gram/day) of beverage or foods that contain erythritol. Recent or current weight loss diet.

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Crossover Assignment
Intervention Model Description
Randomized crossover study with 2-week washout
Primary Purpose
Basic Science
Masking
Triple (Participant, Care Provider, Outcomes Assessor)
Masking Description
Experimental and control beverage are formulated to be similar color, taste and volume.

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
Erythritol-sweetened beverage
1-gram erythritol/kg body weight/day, divided into three beverage servings and fruit-flavored with Kool-Aid® unsweetened drink mix.
  • Other: Erythritol
    Erythritol is a naturally occurring and non-nutritive sugar alcohol that is classified as generally recognized as safe (GRAS)
    Other names:
    • Noncaloric sugar alcohol
Placebo Comparator
Aspartame-sweetened beverage
Control beverages will be made from a noncaloric aspartame-sweetened, fruit-flavored drink mix at the concentration needed to match the sweetness (~3 mg aspartame/kg/day) and flavoring of the erythritol beverages on a per volume basis.
  • Other: Aspartame
    Aspartame consists of two amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid, and a methyl group. It does not have metabolic effects and has served as the blinded control beverage in the investigators' completed NIH-funded clinical trials.
    Other names:
    • Noncaloric sweetener

Recruiting Locations

Ragle Human Nutrition Research Center, University of California, Davis
Davis 5341704, California 5332921 95616
Contact:
Kimber Stanhope, Ph.D.
530-752-3720
klstanhope@ucdavis.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
University of California, Davis

Study Contact

Kimber L. Stanhope, Ph.D.
5302190914
klstanhope@ucdavis.edu

Detailed Description

There is a strong correlation between plasma erythritol concentrations and adverse cardiovascular events in high risk individuals. It has also been demonstrated that consumption of dietary erythritol leads to high levels of plasma erythritol. There is in vitro evidence that erythritol at comparable concentrations promotes platelet activation. However, there is no direct evidence that links human consumption of erythritol with the onset of platelet activation and adhesion leading to inflammation. The investigators seek to fill this evidence gap by conducting a randomized crossover dietary intervention study in which human participants will consume beverages sweetened with erythritol or aspartame, each for two weeks.

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.