For the first time, a semi-independent committee for the World Health Organization says that it’s determined that aspartame, a popular artificial sweetener found in thousands of products, should be categorized as 'possibly carcinogenic to humans.'
— For the first time, a semi-independent committee for the World Health Organization said Thursday that it’s determined that aspartame, a popular artificial sweetener found in thousands of products like diet sodas and sugar-free gum, should be put categorized as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”
While some scientists and food and beverage manufacturers worry that WHO’s label of “possibly carcinogenic” will confuse consumers, the agency said its hope is that this designation will prompt scientists to do even more research on aspartame and a possible link, if any, to cancer. Although WHO said in a separate decision in May that people shouldn’t rely on non-sugar sweeteners for weight control, aspartame is often used in “diet” drinks because it has fewer calories than regular sugar. Compared with regular table sugar, aspartame is also about 200 times sweeter, so products don’t need as much of it.
American Beverage says diet sodas typically contain an average of 100 milligrams of aspartame per can. For its review of aspartame, the committee looked at lab data, data from animal studies and human data. One of the 2022 studies from France of 100,000 adults showed that people who consumed food or beverages with a lot of artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, had a slightly higher cancer risk than those who consumed fewer sweeteners. It was an observational study, so it could not determine whether the sweetener was the reason for the higher the cancer risk.
Dr. Francesco Branca, director of WHO’s Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, who was part of the group that did the risk assessment of aspartame, said his committee came to a similar conclusion. The committee analyzed the 12 animal studies, and the majority gave negative results. Those that found a cancer connection were limited in the design and in the quality of the interpretation of the data. The epidemiological studies in humans saw some cancer effects, including liver, breast and lymphoma, and some effects on type 2 diabetes, but the studies were observational, meaning there was no proof of cause and effect.
Some scientists who weren’t involved in the WHO decisions are concerned that calling something possibly carcinogenic could unnecessarily alarm people.
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