According to WHO, aspartame is a possible cause of cancer

A hugely popular sweetener, used in the recipes of thousands of products made and produced around the world including some famous types of cola, ice cream and chewing gum. In addition to those sold as (alleged) zero sugar or dietary. L’aspartame could soon be declared «potentially carcinogenic» for humans by the World Health Organization. In particular at the IARC, theInternational agency for research on cancerthe operational cancer research arm of the UN international agency that we have known in depth during the pandemic.

He anticipated it Reuters a couple of days ago and that would basically mean bring some evidence of the direct link between aspartame – a dipeptide composed of aspartic acid and phenylalanine – and cancer. A very low risk but one that can no longer be ignored. In fact, the IARC scale has two other alarm levels, “probably carcinogenic to humans” (currently 94 agents) and “carcinogenic to humans” (126 agents). It is therefore the first and mildest and the announcement will be accompanied, on July 14th, by theindication of the maximum dosages below which the risk is essentially nil. This second announcement will be made by yet another body, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives.

Aspartame, the previous ones

Indeed, the novelty compared to this intense, low-calorie artificial sweetener, approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar, it’s no surprise at all. Aspartame has been under scrutiny for many years, some studies have been carried out – including those at the beginning of the 2000s by the Ramazzini Institute on mice and rats – and if it is true that they have always excluded the risk that it could directly cause the tumor , a French research on a large number of volunteers, 100,000 people, had however more recently highlighted a slightly increased risk.

Possible carcinogens, in fact, are components and substances «for which there is limited scientific evidence that they increase the risk of cancer». In that group there are already today 322 substances and for many of them the connection with the possible onset of cancer is really poor if not weak. For example, EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, expressed itself in the opposite way already ten years ago, with a first comprehensive risk assessment in which it indicated the acceptable daily intake (ADI) in 40mg/kg of body weight/day.

Used as a food additive in products such as beverages, pastry and confectionery products, dairy products, chewing gum, diet and weight control products, as well as a table-top sweetener, aspartame will remain in a rather uncertain situation, and probably with no effect in terms of production if not after a short period of general alarm, even after the formalization of the judgment by the IARC based in any case on the review of 1,300 studies and 7,000 scientific references. In the list of 322 possibly carcinogenic agents – they are available here together with those certainly associated with cancer – for example also appear thealoe verai picklesThe chloroform or theginkgo biloba extract as well as dozens of active ingredients used in myriads of drugs and compounds we are subjected to every day.

«The IARC has evaluated the potential carcinogenic effect of aspartame – confirmed al Guardian a spokesperson for the research agency – following this, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives will update its risk assessment exercise on aspartame, including review of acceptable daily intake and exposure assessment food for aspartame. The result of both assessments will be made available at the same time on July 14, 2023.”

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