Aspartame (artificial sweetener)

2023: WHO recognizes aspartame as cancer-causing carcinogen

On July 14, 2023, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the Joint Committee of Experts on Food Additives (OCEPD) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) released the results of a study according to which the sweetener from Coca-Cola is recognized as a carcinogen causing the development of malignancies.

We are talking about a substance called aspartame (L-Aspartyl-L-phenylalanine) - this is an artificial sweetener used as a sugar substitute. Since the 1980s, it has been widely used in a variety of foods and beverages, including diet drinks, chewing gum, gelatin, ice cream, dairy products, ready-made breakfast cereals, as well as in toothpaste and medicinal products such as cough lollipops and chewable vitamins.

Aspartame is recognized as a carcinogen that causes the development of malignancies

IARC and OCEPD performed independent but complementary assessments of the substance: specialists identified the potential carcinogenic hazard and other health risks associated with aspartame use.

Based on limited evidence for human cancer (namely hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer), the IARC classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B). Of a limited nature, there was also evidence regarding cancer obtained during experiments on animals, and evidence regarding the possible mechanisms of cancer pathogenesis, the published document says.

At the same time, OKEPD researchers concluded that the obtained evidence does not provide sufficient grounds for changing the previously established norm for aspartame permissible daily intake at the level of 0-40 mg/kg of body weight. This value is safe for humans.^[1]

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