The World Health Organization is on the verge of declaring the aspartame sweetener in Diet Coke a possible carcinogen, Reuters reported Thursday.
Aspartame is also linked in some studies to weight gain, GI disorders, mental health issues and more:
According to some studies, aspartame and other artificial sweeteners can lead to weight gain instead of weight loss 12. Aspartame has been linked to increased appetite, diabetes, metabolic derangement and obesity-related diseases 2.
One study showed that aspartame causes greater weight gain than a diet with the same calorie intake but no aspartame 1. Another study found that even acceptable daily intakes of aspartame might make you hungrier and lead to weight gain 3.
...some research suggests an association between aspartame intake and metabolic damage to the central nervous system (CNS), such as changes in enzyme and neurotransmitter activities 2. Aspartame acts as a chemical stressor by elevating plasma cortisol levels and causing the production of excess free radicals. High cortisol levels and excess free radicals may increase the brain’s vulnerability to oxidative stress which may have adverse effects on neurobehavioral health 3.
There is also some evidence that high-aspartame consumption may lead to weaker spatial orientation, irritability, depression, and other neurobehavioral conditions 14. However, these studies are limited in scope and further research is needed to determine the long-term effects of aspartame on human health.
Worth researching more, especially if you eat/drink anything with this stuff - and it's in a lot of food products.
But basically, IARC is only looking at if the substance can be carcinogenic, regardless of the quantity it takes for it to be harmful to humans.
There is another organization, called JECFA that is specifically for advice for individuals. This is where "food regulations" would come from.
The JECFA is set to show off their findings at the same time as IARC is gonna make their announcement. I feel like some of you guys are jumping the gun here due to the title of the articles coming out.
Obesity is one of the leading preventable causes of cancer. Along with tobacco, alcohol, sun exposure, and red meat consumption. Aspartame is not a major cause of cancer in humans. If it helps you lose weight, then you're improving your cancer risk.
Barbecue sausages are also carcinogenic. What matters is how much and in what doses.
Hey WHO: Show me scientific, peer revieved, reproduced in independed labs papers with solid proofs. Not preliminary results of "one research". Then I will weigh pros and cons and decide if I should use it.
Strangely decades of use under supervision of FDA and other reputable institutions had no remarks like WHO.
Don't forget that dihydrate monoxide also promote cancer, and we all drink it like water.
Obesity is like the second biggest risk factor for cancers. This post reads like a non-medical professional's interpretation of medical advice. I don't mean to offend, because that is very common. But the information presented here is devoid of context in a way that makes it potentially misleading.
I sort of cringe (more of a nose wrinkle really) at OP's "it's known in some circles to be bad" You see beliefs and correlative evidence constantly misrepresented as proof and truth in food and medical science (reporting and discussion).
I get it. The body is a hugely complicated system, it's hard to figure these things out. What does even figuring them out mean with the amount of complicating factors of this affects that which affects this which causes this.
I'm open to the idea that lobbying and such means Aspartame (and other industrial food products) has really been pushed through.
It's also obviously been studied quite a bit and it's hard to believe all the studies saying it's safe at recommended levels are bunk or fraudulent.
This news was on another instance where the discussion included that the IARC carcinogen classifications do not take into account exposure/dosage. A whole bunch of things can be carcinogenic depending on exposure. Haven't we all read how the rats that got cancer from saccharine had epic doses? It was just magnitudes more than a human would consume.
If an observational study won't cut it (I see you, @xthedeerlordx, and appreciate your comment and explanation), how does one prove the causation? Don't you need randomized controlled trials which would be extremely onerous controlling for various factors and basically making the (ideally large number of) participants live in a lab for whatever amount of time the study takes to really prove causation? I'd genuinely like to know. It seems like for a lot of things correlation after correlation after correlation is the best we're going to get.
If anyone's seen aspartame's wikipedia article, it's like the most corporate compromised entry I've seen. In fact this very report is already being covered up there.
Aspartame just like about anything is not good for you in large quantities. This probably doesn't concern you if you just drink moderate amounts of sugar free drinks.
Gonna try to cut a line down the middle and say I’m not seeing very convincing evidence one way versus another. Lotta finger pointing and honestly getting way more intense about diet soda than I thought anyone would.
Gotta say that my family (and me until high school) drink wayyy to much diet soda. Like sugar, or aspartame it’s a bit worrying and when you drink caffeinated sweetness all day you’re probably going to feel defensive about someone saying it’s gonna kill you.
I am a bit of the mind that it may only be significantly carcinogenic at super high doses, but who knows if anyone is getting those doses either from commercial beverages or mixing it in the same proportions as sugar in their iced tea
WHO is one of those organizations whose advice I wish I could take at face value, but with anything that should be science based, it only takes a few disappointing compromises to take away a lot of trust.
And how their recommendations result in our country's maternity wards try acupuncture and breathing as pain relief first, leaving mothers in debilitating pain for hours before giving them any of the real, safe, proven painkillers.
I get the reasoning - that accepting the commonly held medical belief of e.g. China allows them to hold some authority there and be a more global force of good - but to me it just make anything they say go on the "ok interesting, I'll fact check it later" pile.
In general, the American Cancer Society does not determine if something causes cancer (that is, if it is a carcinogen), but we do look to other respected organizations for help with this. Based on current research, some of these organizations have made the following determinations:
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has concluded that “the use of aspartame as a general purpose sweetener… is safe.”
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has stated, “Studies do not suggest an increased risk associated with aspartame consumption for… leukaemia, brain tumours or a variety of cancers, including brain, lymphatic and haematopoietic (blood) cancers.”
Though research into a possible link between aspartame and cancer continues, these agencies agree that studies done so far have not found such a link.
It also just tastes terrible. Tastes like soapy metallic something to me. Americans, especially, are overwhelmed with food related marketing of harmful quantities, of harmful stuff. Harmful like 16 oz sodas with 30 grams of sugar. Who drinks that shit? Everything's giant!
Fats, sugar, salt aren't harmful. Massive amounts of them can be.
Full disclosure I'm going completely tangential for this one.
I find it believable at best that aspartame can cause cancer, but causing weight gain just makes no sense to me.
I used to be FAT. 250 lbs. I didn't really make that many changes to my diet, except for cutting refined sugars way back.
I switched to Diet Coke, got off the little debbies, and I slimmed right down and now I'm hovering around 135.
It would make sense to say that I would maintain that weight or maybe gained more if aspartame was as harmful as this article says, but I'm not seeing it.
There are so many artificial sweetners in the market now.Even purely natural onea like stevia powders have maltitol added to it. It might be better to give up sweet things completely may be with the exception of fruits for better health.
They put aspartame in the "possibly carcinogenic" category which is their least certain one. Also in this category we have... Radio waves (sigh)... Yeah right...
It was controversial from day one. When it was approved in Canada in 1981, my parents wouldn't let us touch the stuff.
But it's shadier than I thought: Donald Rumsfeld (yeah, Iraq invasion Donald Rumsfeld) was the CEO of the company that produced it and immediately after being sworn in, Ronald Reagan cleared the way for approval.
I'm not sure because I think more studies need to be done.
What I do know is I never liked diet coke or anything with artificial sweeteners. Never drank them. But when I got cancer I craved it. During chemo it was the only thing I could drink without issue. So there's that.
I am curious whether this will actually impact what is considered safe to consume on a daily basis.
Again, many things are unhealthy and carcinogenic in large quantities. The infamos study showed that Aspartame was causing cancer in mice but the amounts they were given would be like humans eating bags of it every day.
Make of this what you will, but our brains produce as much glutamate as we need. In case of head trauma such as stroke, it produces too much, which results in cell death and probably a lot of the disability following a stroke.
I don't think we need any extra NMDA agonists in our diet, but then again I'm just a layman in this area.
Hasn’t it already been proven to facilitate the development of Alzheimer? Honest question - I’m a layman in medicine and just worried about my dad chugging tons of diet products full of aspartame, thinking it’s the healthy choice (as opposed to non-diet lemonade for instance).
So let's say we stop playing semantics to the degree of harm and say that aspartame is not good for humans. Ok. What sweetener currently on the market is the least damaging option for me to pursue?