Xylitol vs Erythritol – Which is Healthier?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Our Verdict
When comparing xylitol to erythritol, we picked the xylitol.
Why?
They’re both sugar alcohols, which so far as the body is concerned are neither sugars nor alcohols in the way those words are commonly understood; it’s just a chemical term. The sugars aren’t processed as such by the body and are passed as dietary fiber, and nor is there any intoxicating effect as one might expect from an alcohol.
In terms of macronutrients, while technically they both have carbs, for all functional purposes they don’t and just have a little fiber.
In terms of micronutrients, they don’t have any.
The one thing that sets them apart is their respective safety profiles. Xylitol is prothrombotic and associated with major adverse cardiac events (CI=95, adjusted hazard ratio=1.57, range=1.12-2.21), while erythritol is also prothrombotic and more strongly associated with major adverse cardiac events (CI=95, adjusted hazard ratio=2.21, range=1.20-4.07).
So, xylitol is bad and erythritol is worse, which means the relatively “healthier” is xylitol. We don’t recommend either, though.
Studies for both:
- Xylitol is prothrombotic and associated with cardiovascular risk
- The artificial sweetener erythritol and cardiovascular event risk
Links for the specific products we compared, in case our assessment hasn’t put you off them:
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
- The WHO’s New View On Sugar-Free Sweeteners ← the WHO’s advice is “don’t”
- Stevia vs Acesulfame Potassium – Which is Healthier? ← stevia’s pretty much the healthiest artificial sweetener around, though, if you’re going to use one
- The Fascinating Truth About Aspartame, Cancer, & Neurotoxicity ← under the cold light of science, aspartame isn’t actually as bad as it was painted a few decades ago, mostly by a viral hoax letter. Per the WHO’s advice, it’s still good to avoid sweeteners in general, however.
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Recommended
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
Healthy Brain, Happy Life – by Dr. Wendy Suzuki
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
We talked about Dr. Wendy Suzuki’s research in the category of exercise and brain-benefits in our main feature the other day. But she has more to say than we can fit into an article!
This book chronicles her discoveries, through her work in memory and neuroplasticity, to her discoveries about exercise, and her dive into broader neurology-based mental health. So what does neurology-based mental health look like?
The answer is: mitigating brain-busters such as stress and anxiety, revitalizing a fatigued brain, boosting creativity, and other such benefits.
Does she argue that exercise is a cure-all? No, not quite. Sometimes there are other things she’s recommending (such as in her chapter on challenging the neurobiology of the stress response, or her chapter on meditation and the brain).
The writing style is mostly casual, interspersed with occasional mini-lectures (complete with diagrams and other illustrations), and is very readable and informative throughout.
Bottom line: if you’d like the more in-depth details of Dr. Suzuki’s work, this book is a very accessible way to get 320 pages of that!
Click here to check out Healthy Brain, Happy Life, and give yours the best!
Share This Post
-
Lemon vs Lime – Which is Healthier?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Our Verdict
When comparing lemons to limes, we picked the lemons.
Why?
This one’s simple today. They’re both comparable fruits in most ways, and their macro profiles are almost identical. When it comes to vitamins, however, they stand apart a little.
Both are most well-known for their vitamin C content, but lemons contain about 2x the vitamin C of limes.
In other vitamins, they’re not too far apart. Technically limes have 2x the vitamin A, but this doesn’t count for much because it’s a case of “two times almost nothing is still almost nothing”.
In the category of minerals, neither fruit is a very good source of most minerals, and the minerals they do have, are mostly more or less the same.
Both are acidic, and this can have blood sugar benefits in both cases (and, if not careful, damage tooth enamel in both cases). Nothing to set either apart from the other here.
So, it comes down to the vitamin C! In which category, lemons take the prize with their higher content.
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
10 Ways To Balance Blood Sugars ← where it talks about the use of vinegar here, it’s about the acidity, so lemon juice or lime juice is an option too!
Take care!
Share This Post
-
The Mindful Body – by Dr. Ellen Langer
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Fear not, this is not a “think healing thoughts” New Age sort of book. In fact, it’s quite the contrary.
The most common negative reviews for this on Amazon are that it is too densely packed with scientific studies, and some readers found it hard to get through since they didn’t find it “light reading”.
Counterpoint: this reviewer found it very readable. A lot of it is as accessible as 10almonds content, and a lot is perhaps halfway between 10almonds content in readability, and the studies we cite. So if you’re at least somewhat comfortable reading academic literature, you should be fine.
The author, a professor of psychology (tenured at Harvard since 1981), examines a lot of psychosomatic effect. Psychosomatic effect is often dismissed as “it’s all in your head”, but it means: what’s in your head has an effect on your body, because your brain talks to the rest of the body and directs bodily responses and actions/reactions.
An obvious presentation of this in medicine is the placebo/nocebo effect, but Dr. Langer’s studies (indeed, many of the studies she cites are her own, from over the course of her 40-year career) take it further and deeper, including her famous “Counterclockwise” study in which many physiological markers of aging were changed (made younger) by changing the environment that people spent time in, to resemble their youth, and giving them instructions to act accordingly while there.
In the category of subjective criticism: the book is not exceptionally well-organized, but if you read for example a chapter a day, you’ll get all the ideas just fine.
Bottom line: if you want a straightforward hand-holding “how-to” guide, this isn’t it. But it is very much information-packed with a lot of ideas and high-quality science that’s easily applicable to any of us.
Click here to check out The Mindful Body, and indeed grow your chronic good health!
Share This Post
Related Posts
-
Artichoke vs Brussels Sprouts – Which is Healthier?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Our Verdict
When comparing artichoke to Brussels sprouts, we picked the sprouts.
Why?
Finally, a vegetable that beats artichoke—after it previously beat heart-of-palm, asparagus, and even cabbage! It was still close though, which is impressive for artichoke, considering what a nutritional powerhouse Brussels sprouts are:
In terms of macros, the only meaningful difference is that artichoke has slightly more carbs and fiber, so artichoke gets the most marginal of nominal wins in this category.
In the category of vitamins, however, artichoke has more of vitamins B3, B9, and choline, while Brussels sprouts have more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, C, E, and K, giving sprouts the clear victory here, especially with much higher margins of difference (e.g. 58x more vitamin A, as well as 7x more vitamin C, and 10x more vitamin K).
When it comes to minerals, artichoke has more copper, magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc, while Brussels sprouts have more iron, manganese, potassium, and selenium, resulting in a 4:4 tie, and the small margins of difference are mostly comparable, with the exception that sprouts have 8x more selenium. So, Brussels sprouts win this category very marginally on that tie-breaker.
Adding up the sections we see that macros and minerals gave a small win each to artichoke and sprouts respectively, while the vitamins category was an overwhelming win for sprouts, so—with this deciding factor in mind—sprouts win the day today.
Want to learn more?
You might like to read:
Sprout Your Seeds, Grains, Beans, Etc
Enjoy!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
Longevity Noodles
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Noodles may put the “long” into “longevity”, but most of the longevity here comes from the ergothioneine in the mushrooms! The rest of the ingredients are great too though, including the noodles themselves—soba noodles are made from buckwheat, which is not a wheat, nor even a grass (it’s a flowering plant), and does not contain gluten*, but does count as one of your daily portions of grains!
*unless mixed with wheat flour—which it shouldn’t be, but check labels, because companies sometimes cut it with wheat flour, which is cheaper, to increase their profit margin
You will need
- 1 cup (about 9 oz; usually 1 packet) soba noodles
- 6 medium portobello mushrooms, sliced
- 3 kale leaves, de-stemmed and chopped
- 1 shallot, chopped, or ¼ cup chopped onion of any kind
- 1 carrot, diced small
- 1 cup peas
- ½ bulb garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
- 1 tsp red chili flakes
- ½ tsp MSG or 1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
- Avocado oil, for frying (alternatively: extra virgin olive oil or cold-pressed coconut oil are both perfectly good substitutions)
Method
(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)
1) Cook the soba noodles per the packet instructions, rinse, and set aside
2) Heat a little oil in a skillet, add the shallot, and cook for about 2 minutes.
3) Add the carrot and peas and cook for 3 more minutes.
4) Add the mushrooms, kale, garlic, ginger, peppers, and vinegar, and cook for 1 more minute, stirring well.
5) Add the noodles, as well as the MSG or low-sodium soy sauce, and cook for yet 1 more minute.
6) Serve!
Enjoy!
Want to learn more?
For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:
- Rice vs Buckwheat – Which is Healthier?
- The Magic Of Mushrooms: “The Longevity Vitamin” (That’s Not A Vitamin)
- Monosodium Glutamate: Sinless Flavor-Enhancer Or Terrible Health Risk?
- Our Top 5 Spices: How Much Is Enough For Benefits? ← 4/5 of these spices are in today’s dish!
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
-
What you need to know about menopause
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Menopause describes the time when a person with ovaries has gone one full year without a menstrual period. Reaching this phase is a natural aging process that marks the end of reproductive years.
Read on to learn more about the causes, stages, signs, and management of menopause.
What causes menopause?
As you age, your ovaries begin making less estrogen and progesterone—two of the hormones involved in menstruation—and your fertility declines, causing menopause.
Most people begin perimenopause, the transitional time that ends in menopause, in their late 40s, but it can start earlier. On average, people in the U.S. experience menopause in their early 50s.
Your body may reach early menopause for a variety of reasons, including having an oophorectomy, a surgery that removes the ovaries. In this case, the hormonal changes happen abruptly rather than gradually.
Chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer patients may also induce menopause, as these treatments may impact ovary function.
What are the stages of menopause?
There are three stages:
- Perimenopause typically occurs eight to 10 years before menopause happens. During this stage, estrogen production begins to decline and ovaries release eggs less frequently.
- Menopause marks the point when you have gone 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period. This means the ovaries have stopped releasing eggs and producing estrogen.
- Postmenopause describes the time after menopause. Once your body reaches this phase, it remains there for the rest of your life.
How do the stages of menopause affect fertility?
Your ovaries still produce eggs during perimenopause, so it is still possible to get pregnant during that stage. If you do not wish to become pregnant, continue using your preferred form of birth control throughout perimenopause.
Once you’ve reached menopause, you can no longer get pregnant naturally. People who would like to become pregnant after that may pursue in vitro fertilization (IVF) using eggs that were frozen earlier in life or donor eggs.
What are the signs of menopause?
Hormonal shifts result in a number of bodily changes. Signs you are approaching menopause may include:
- Hot flashes (a sudden feeling of warmth).
- Irregular menstrual periods, or unusually heavy or light menstrual periods.
- Night sweats and/or cold flashes.
- Insomnia.
- Slowed metabolism.
- Irritability, mood swings, and depression.
- Vaginal dryness.
- Changes in libido.
- Dry skin, eyes, and/or mouth.
- Worsening of premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
- Urinary urgency (a sudden need to urinate).
- Brain fog.
How can I manage the effects of menopause?
You may not need any treatment to manage the effects of menopause. However, if the effects are disrupting your life, your doctor may prescribe hormone therapy.
If you have had a hysterectomy, your doctor may prescribe estrogen therapy (ET), which may be administered via a pill, patch, cream, spray, or vaginal ring. If you still have a uterus, your doctor may prescribe estrogen progesterone/progestin hormone therapy (EPT), which is sometimes called “combination therapy.”
Both of these therapies work by replacing the hormones your body has stopped making, which can reduce the physical and mental effects of menopause.
Other treatment options may include antidepressants, which can help manage mood swings and hot flashes; prescription creams to alleviate vaginal dryness; or gabapentin, an anti-seizure medication that has been shown to reduce hot flashes.
Lifestyle changes may help alleviate the effects on their own or in combination with prescription medication. Those changes include:
- Incorporating movement into your daily life.
- Limiting caffeine and alcohol.
- Quitting smoking.
- Maintaining a regular sleep schedule.
- Practicing relaxation techniques, such as meditation.
- Consuming foods rich in plant estrogens, such as grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, and seeds.
- Seeking support from a therapist and from loved ones.
What health risks are associated with menopause?
Having lower levels of estrogen may put you at greater risk of certain health complications, including osteoporosis and coronary artery disease.
Osteoporosis occurs when bones lose their density, increasing the risk of fractures. A 2022 study found that the prevalence of osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women was 82.2 percent.
Coronary artery disease occurs when the arteries that send blood to your heart become narrow or blocked with fatty plaque.
Estrogen therapy can reduce your risk of osteoporosis and coronary artery disease by preserving bone mass and maintaining cardiovascular function.
For more information, talk to your health care provider.
This article first appeared on Public Good News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Don’t Forget…
Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!
Learn to Age Gracefully
Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:
