Aspartame is one of the world’s most popular artificial sweetener. It’s an ingredient which is included in soft drinks such as Diet coke and Diet Pepsi. Presently the World Health Organization committee has declared that it’s a potential carcinogen.
Recently after reviewing the scientific literature on aspartame by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that it might have carcinogenic effects. Many public health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration have constantly said aspartame is safe, but the food industry executives and public health leaders are concerned that the news will confuse and panic consumers.
Aspartame has been in the market for many years. In 1974 it was first allowed as a sweetener by the FDA and became regularly used commercially in the early 1980s.
IARC’s new review was prompted largely by two recent studies that reignited questions about the health effects of aspartame. One of those studies, the NutriNet-Sante cohort study, was published last year. It was a large observational study involving 100,000 individuals. It found that people who consumed higher amounts of aspartame were slightly more likely to develop breast cancer, obesity-related cancers and “overall cancer” compared with individuals who did not consume aspartame.
In 2020 studies was published, which was carried out in rats and mice. It was a re-analysis of 15-year-old research from the Ramazzini Institute, which concluded that in rats and mice, aspartame caused blood-related cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, and that prenatal exposure to aspartame increased the rate of these cancers in rodent offspring.
Recently the WHO issued recommendations, based on a systematic review of the literature, that discouraged individuals from using non-sugar sweeteners to control their weight. The WHO found that not only do artificial sweeteners not help individuals lose weight, but they also increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and early death.
While much of the research on these sweeteners is observational, they have also been rigorous, randomized controlled trials that raised questions about their health effects and their ability to help with weight loss. Some experts say that consuming non-sugar sweeteners can also increase your tolerance and desire for sweet foods.
Francesco Branca, the director of the department of nutrition for health and development at the WHO said, treat them as an element of the diet which we should discourage, sugar sweeteners do not belong to a healthy diet.
