- Aspartame is an artificial sweetener found in diet sodas, chewing gum, and other products.
- Officials at the World Health Organization are expected to classify aspartame as a potential carcinogen.
- Experts say, however, it is not certain how much of the sweetener people need to consume to increase their risk of cancer.
A common artificial sweetener that appears in everything from diet sodas to chewing gum could be declared a possible carcinogen in the next few days by one of the world’s leading health bodies.
According to a story by Reuters, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is expected to declare aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” for the first time.
Reuters said the IARC decision was made in June after a meeting of group experts and is intended to assess whether something is a potential hazard, based on published evidence. The decision doesn’t consider how much of a product someone can safely consume.
The WHO committee on additives, the JECFA (the Joint WHO and Food and Agriculture Organization’s Expert Committee on Food Additives), is also reviewing aspartame use this year. Its meeting began at the end of June and officials will announce their findings at the same time that the IARC makes public its decision on Friday, according to Reuters.
The announcements set up a conflict with major food manufacturers who widely use aspartame, mostly as a sugar substitute.
Similar past IARC rulings have raised consumer concerns, led to lawsuits, and pressured manufacturers into scrambling for alternative ingredients.
Since 1981, WHO regulators have said aspartame is safe within accepted daily limits. An adult weighing 60 kg (132 pounds) would have to drink 12 to 36 cans of diet soda – depending on the amount of aspartame in the beverage – daily to be at risk, according to Reuters.
That opinion has been shared by other regulatory bodies, including those in the United States and Europe.
The IARC has
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