Trying to switch to drinks and food that are low on calories and carbohydrate to avoid sugar? These are often loaded with an artificial sweetener called erythritol and can raise your risk of a major adverse cardiac event such as heart attack, stroke or death, warned a study.

Erythritol is about 70 per cent as sweet as sugar and is produced through corn fermentation and often mixed to sweeten stevia, monk fruit or add bulk to low-calorie products.