The WHO has classified the sweetener aspartame as a possible carcinogen.
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World Health Organization (WHO) experts appreciated human health effects of the sweetener aspartame. The Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) has confirmed the acceptable daily intake of aspartame at 40 mg/kg body weight, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified it as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener used as a sugar substitute and also as a food additive E951. It has the same calorie content as sugar, while being 200 times sweeter than sucrose. Used in diet drinks, chewing gum, ice cream, yogurt and breakfast cereals, as well as in toothpaste and cough drops.
Within the studies, experts noted the limited evidence available for cancer and other health outcomes. “Evaluations for aspartame do not give rise to serious doubt about its safety at the doses in which it is commonly consumed, but indicate potential effects that require further and more thorough research,” commented the Director of the WHO Department of Nutrition and Health. food safety Dr. Francesca Branca.
“JECFA also reviewed the evidence for cancer risk from human and animal studies and concluded that the evidence for an association between aspartame consumption and cancer in humans is inconclusive,” said the head of the WHO Division for standards and scientific guidelines for food and nutrition Dr. Moez Sanaa.
IARC and WHO will continue to monitor new data on aspartame.
For many years, scientific organizations and regulatory bodies in different countries studied the safety of this product, since it was periodically believed that aspartame could provoke the development of cancer. According to one study, high aspartame consumption slightly increases the risk of cancer in adults.
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