Is aspartame allowed to be used in food in nearly a hundred countries and carcinogenic? Controversy has been ongoing for decades. World Health Organization | Safety | Food
According to media reports, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a subsidiary of the World Health Organization, will announce aspartame as a "possible carcinogen" in July. What is aspartame? What products contain aspartame? Is aspartame safe?
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener commonly used in sugar free beverages, chewing gum, yogurt, and more. Its chemical name is asparaginylphenylalanine methyl ester, which was discovered by chemists during the development of ulcer drugs in 1965. Its sweetness is about 200 times that of ordinary sucrose. Although aspartame has a strong sweetness, it has almost zero calories and does not have the bitterness of saccharin, so it is considered by the food industry as a sweetener to replace sucrose.
Aspartame was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1974 as a sweetener and an additive in various foods. In Europe, aspartame was approved as a substitute for sucrose in food in 1994.
So far, the use of aspartame in food has been licensed in nearly 100 countries, including the UK, Spain, France, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. The recommended daily allowable intake of aspartame by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is within 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.
But there has been ongoing controversy over the health impact of aspartame for decades.
In terms of carcinogenicity, the Center for Science in the Public Interest in the United States issued a statement in 2013, stating that animal experiments have found that aspartame may cause cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, and it should not appear in the food supply system. However, although some animal experiments have shown that aspartame has a tumor inducing effect, previous evaluations by JECFA, the US Food and Drug Administration, and others have suggested that aspartame has no carcinogenic effects on animals. The American Cancer Society previously pointed out that multiple human studies have shown no association between aspartame and increased cancer risk.
A study released by the European Ramachini Foundation in 2006 showed that long-term intake of 100 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight in experimental mice can cause various cancers, including lymphoblastoma, leukemia, and schwannoma. However, the United States and the European Union commissioned relevant agencies to review and evaluate the raw data of this experiment, denying its interpretation of the results and not acknowledging the carcinogenic effect of aspartame.
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2012 by institutions such as the Harvard School of Public Health and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Austria stated that compared to people who do not drink sugar free soda, those who drink more than one glass of sugar free soda containing aspartame every day are at an increased risk of developing leukemia; Compared to men who do not drink sugar free soda, men who drink more than one glass of sugar free soda containing aspartame per day are at an increased risk of developing non Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma. However, this study is also controversial.
In terms of neurotoxicity, although there have been reports that high doses of aspartame may alter the levels of central nervous system neurotransmitters in animals, a large number of animal experiments and population epidemiological data have not shown that neurological behavioral diseases and symptoms are related to the intake of aspartame. Genetic toxicity experiments did not find any mutagenic effects of aspartame, and no teratogenicity or reproductive toxicity was observed.
In addition, some experts believe that although aspartame does not have the same calorie content as sucrose, it may also increase the risk of obesity.
In May this year, the World Health Organization released a new guideline on non sugar sweeteners, recommending against using sweeteners such as aspartame, acesulfame, and saccharin to control weight or reduce the risk of non communicable diseases. The World Health Organization points out that a systematic review of existing evidence suggests that the use of non sugar sweeteners has no long-term benefits in reducing body fat in adults or children. Long term use of non sugar sweeteners may have potential adverse effects, such as increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and adult mortality.
