2023-07-14 17:50:00
DISPATCH — The World Health Organization (WHO) today classified aspartame in the category of “possible carcinogens”. However, the institution has not seen fit to change the daily recommendations, which have remained in good shape since 1981.
Present in the vast majority of “light” sodas, chewing gum or prepared meals, this sweetener has a sweetening power 200 times greater than that of conventional sugar. In total, some 2,500 food products contain it in Europe.
Today, the WHO said aspartame has “limited indications” for cancer in humans. “Possibly” carcinogenic, it has been inserted in group 2B of the classification, where we also find aloe vera extract or caffeic acid. As reported PointAccording to Paul Pharoah, professor of cancer epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, “the general public should not be concerned about the cancer risk associated with a chemical classified as Group 2B.”
Dr Francesco Branca, Director of the Department of Nutrition, Health and Development at the WHO, agrees: “We do not advise companies to withdraw their products, nor do we advise consumers to completely stop their consumption.” . The organization has not changed the daily recommendations, which remain at 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. In other words, it’s about ten cans a day. Is there really no risk?
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Aspartame consumption skyrocketed in the 2000s, but debates about its dangers only flourished later. In 2017, a scientific study published in “Plos Medicine” showed not only that this sweetener had no beneficial effect on weight loss, but that it could above all be counterproductive. Indeed, people who consume it tend to want more sugar. The height. Result, “sweetened drinks would increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes”, as wrote then Point. Today, cancer is added to diabetes.
The WHO knows this very well, Dr. Branca having concluded as follows: “Between a cola with sweetener and a cola with sugar, I think that a third option should be considered: drinking water .”
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