Aspartame was finally introduced as a possible carcinogen; But the US Food and Drug Administration disagrees

The artificial sweetener aspartame, widely used in diet drinks and low-sugar foods, may cause cancer, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

However, the second committee of the World Health Organization kept its assessment of the safe level of aspartame consumption unchanged. According to the standard of this committee, consuming less than 40 milligrams of the famous sweetener per kilogram of weight is considered safe; This means that a person with a weight of 68 kg can still avoid getting cancer even if he consumes 12 cans of diet soda every day.

The announcement of aspartame’s link to cancer risk by the World Health Organization is the first public warning from a prominent international body about the effects of this nearly ubiquitous artificial sweetener. Aspartame has been a topic of debate among experts for decades.

According to the New York TimesBased on limited evidence from three observational studies in humans, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has concluded that consumption of artificially sweetened beverages is associated with an increased incidence of liver cancer. the doctor Francesco BrancaDirector of the Nutrition and Food Safety Unit at WHO, says people who consume large amounts of aspartame should switch to water or other unsweetened beverages.

However, Dr. Franca added: “Our results do not show that occasional consumption[آسپارتام] It is dangerous for most people.

Concerns about increasing global rates of obesity and diabetes, as well as changing consumer food preferences, have led to a sudden growth in the production and consumption of sugar-free and low-sugar foods and beverages. Aspartame is one of six sweeteners approved by US regulators and is found in thousands of products, from sugar-free gum, diet sodas, teas, energy drinks and even yogurt. Aspartame is also used to sweeten various pharmaceutical products.

Despite the announcement by the World Health Organization, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which approved aspartame decades ago, on Thursday reiterated its long-standing position that the sweetener is safe in an unusual criticism of the World Health Organization’s findings. “The FDA disagrees with the IARC’s conclusion that the studies support the classification of aspartame as a probable human carcinogen,” the FDA said in a statement.

The Food and Drug Administration also added that the fact that aspartame is listed as “probably carcinogenic” by the World Health Organization does not mean that the sweetener is actually linked to cancer. However, the FDA has refused to interview its experts with the media about the agency’s specific concerns.