2023-06-29 19:49:04
by Laura Cuppini
Aspartame is one of the most common sweeteners, present in many food products: the Agency for Research on Cancer could classify it as a possible carcinogen, but does not establish what quantities are safe
Aspartame, one of the most popular sweeteners, could be classified as a possible human carcinogen (group 2B) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, which is part of the World Health Organization.
The news was released by the agency Reuters
, one of the most authoritative in the world, which cites anonymous but informed sources on the possible decision. There are no official confirmations at the moment.
Aspartame is present in many food products, for example diet drinks and chewing gum.
The safe amount
What do the IARC experts do? Their task is to establish whether a substance is (or could be) carcinogenic, based on all available scientific evidence.
However, they do not indicate — and this is an important passage — the quantity of the product that can be consumed without running risks. In fact, damage can often derive from exposure or consumption beyond the limits permitted by law.
In particular, aspartame is being studied by Jecfa (the joint committee of WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization that deals with food additives). In 1981 the same Jecfa committee had declared that this sweetener was safe within the indicated daily limits.
For example, a 60 kg adult would need to drink between 12 and 36 cans of diet soda a day, depending on the amount of aspartame contained, to put their health at risk.
The case of glyphosate
IARC’s decisions have a huge impact: for example, in 2015 glyphosate (herbicide) was classified as a probable carcinogen (group 2A) and this led to a series of legal proceedings against the companies that produce it, starting with Monsanto.
The classification levels of the IARC are 4:
– substances carcinogenic to humans (group 1),
– probable carcinogens (group 2A),
-possible carcinogens (group 2B),
– not classifiable as carcinogenic (group 3).
Group A includes 126 agents ranging from processed meat to asbestos, alcohol to benzene.
Night work and the consumption of red meat are among the probable carcinogens (94 agents), which means that there is limited evidence that these substances or situations can cause cancer in humans.
Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields associated with the use of mobile phones are on the list of possible carcinogens (322 agents): the ability to cause cancer in humans is doubtful. If the Reuters news were confirmed, aspartame would fall into this category.
The last group, which is not classifiable, includes substances or situations (500) for which there is insufficient evidence of carcinogenicity.
Studies on aspartame
Aspartame has been under scrutiny for a long time. In 2022, an observational study conducted in France on over 100,000 adults showed that those who consume large quantities of artificial sweeteners – including aspartame – have a slightly higher risk of cancer than the rest of the population.
Previous work from the Ramazzini Institute in Bologna in the early 2000s concluded that some cancers in mice and rats were due to aspartame.
However, to date, it has not been conclusively proven that this sweetener is linked to an increased risk of cancer in humans.
June 29, 2023 (change June 29, 2023 | 19:56)
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