With a can of sugar-free soft drink typically containing 200 or 300 mg of aspartame sweetener, an adult weighing 70 kg would therefore need to consume more than nine to 14 cans per day to exceed the ADI, assuming no additional aspartame intake from other sources.
The WHO said Friday it classified aspartame, an artificial sweetener commonly used in soft drinks, as “possibly carcinogenic to humans, though the acceptable daily intake level remains unchanged.
“We’re not advising companies to withdraw products or consumers to stop consuming them altogether," said Francesco Branca, the World Health Organization’s nutrition and food safety director.
“We’re just advising a bit of moderation,” he told a press conference presenting the findings of two reviews of available evidence on aspartame. The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) evaluatedaspartame's carcinogenicity at a meeting in Lyon, France, from June 6 to 13.
“The working group classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans,” the WHO said.
It was placed in category 2B based on the limited evidence available, which specifically concerned hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer.
There was also some limited evidence regarding cancer in experimental animals. The Group 2B category also contains extracts of aloe vera and caffeine found in tea and coffee. This is said by Paul Pharoah, a professor of cancer epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
“The general public should not worry about the risk of cancer associated with a chemical classified as Group 2B,” he said. The IARC’s Mary Schubauer-Berigan said the limited evidence for hepatocellular carcinoma came from three studies, conducted in the United States and across 10 European countries.
“These are the only epidemiological studies of liver cancer,” she told reporters. Branca added: “We have, in a sense, raised a flag here, indicating that we need to clarify the situation further," but this is not something that we can dismiss”.
9–14 Cans A Day
A second group, JECFA—the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives formed by the WHO and its fellow UN agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization—met in Geneva from June 27 to July 6 to evaluate aspartame risks.
It concluded that the data it evaluated indicated no reason to change the acceptable daily intake (ADI), established in 1981, of zero to 40 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight. With a can of sugar-free soft drink typically containing 200 or 300 mg of aspartame sweetener, an adult weighing 70 kg would therefore need to consume more than nine to 14 cans per day to exceed the ADI, assuming no additional aspartame intake from other sources. Branca said, "The problem is for high-income consumers.". “Somebody who drinks a soda occasionally shouldn’t have a concern.”
Sodas, Gum And Cereals
Aspartame is an artificial chemical sweetener widely used in various food and beverage products since the 1980s.
It is found in diet drinks, chewing gum, gelatin, ice cream, dairy products such as yogurt, breakfast cereals, toothpaste, cough drops, and chewable vitamins. The International Sweeteners Association said that the Group 2B classification puts aspartame in the same category as kimchi and other pickled vegetables.
“JECFA has once again reaffirmed aspartame’s safety after conducting a thorough, comprehensive, and scientifically rigorous review,” said ISA chief Frances Hunt-Wood. But for Camille Dorioz, campaign manager at Foodwatch, Friday’s update left a “bitter taste”. “A possibly carcinogenic sweetener has no place in our food and drink,” he said.
‘Drink Water’
Back in May, the WHO said artificial sweeteners, used to replace sugar in a vast range of products, do not help people loseweight. They can have serious health effects. The UN health agency released guidelines advising against non-sugar sweeteners. Branca was asked what consumers should do in light of Friday’s update. This was when trying to choose what was most beneficial between a soft drink with added sugar and one with added sweeteners.
“There should be a third option considered, which is to drink water instead and limit sweetened product consumption altogether," he replied. “There are alternatives that do not contain free sugars or sweeteners, and those should be the products preferred by consumers.”
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