Aspartame is a 'possible carcinogen.' But unless you're drinking more than 14 cans of soda a day, you probably don't need to worry.
- The World Health Organization has changed the classification of aspartame to 'possibly carcinogenic.'
- Aspartame is commonly used as an artificial sweetener and can be found in some diet soda drinks.
Aspartame, a widely used artificial sweetener, was classed as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" by a World Health Organization-affiliated research group — but experts say the average person doesn't need to worry that soda will give them cancer.
Before the International Research Agency on Cancer announced the change in the classification of aspartame on Thursday, the chemical was labeled as unclassifiable — meaning that there was not enough evidence to link it to cancer.
Now, the IRAC has reclassified aspartame based on "limited evidence" that it has links to hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer in humans.
This means that there are potential carcinogenic effects "that need to be investigated by more and better studies," according to Dr Francesco Branca, director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety at WHO.
But it doesn't mean we should stop consuming aspartame or diet sodas. Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, told NBC News that "it's a slight warning to people, but it's not 'do not consume.' Consume moderate levels and you're OK."
Alice Davies, health information manager at the charity Cancer Research UK, told Sky News: "Something being classed as a carcinogen doesn't tell you how much it could increase the risk of cancer.
"Sometimes there are things that might cause cancer in theory, but in reality the dose that you're exposed to is too low to increase your risk.
It's still safe to consume 40 mg of aspartame per kg of body weight daily
The Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives, another WHO-affiliated reserach group that did an independent but complementary review of aspartame, has not changed its recommended daily intake of aspartame, and maintains that it is safe to ingest up to 40 mg of aspartame daily per kilogram of body weight.
This is far more than most people would consume in a day, because cans of diet soda usually contain 200 mg of aspartame.
So, a 70 kg adult could drink up to 14 cans of Diet Coke a day and not exceed their daily recommended intake.
Products that contain aspartame include Diet Coke and yogurt
Aspartame is commonly used as a sweetener in diet drinks such as Diet Coke, Coke Zero, and Mountain Dew Zero Sugar, as well as chewing gum, like Wrigley's Extra and sugar free Orbit.
It is also found in other low or no-sugar products, such as Sugar-free Jell-O and tabletop sweeteners, and breakfast foods like cereal and yogurt.
Not all sweetened products contain aspartame, however. Sweet and Low, for instance, contains saccharin.