Last Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the results of the risk assessments surrounding the health effects of the artificial sweetener aspartame. The result shows that the WHO considers aspartame to be possibly carcinogenic, but emphasizes in its assessment that the amount most people ingest is safe. – We do not advise manufacturers to withdraw products, nor do we advise consumers to stop using it altogether. We recommend some moderation, says the World Health Organization’s director for nutrition and food safety, Francesco Branca. Senior researcher at the Institute of Public Health, Trine Husøy supports the call for moderation. – It is still safe as long as the intake of aspartame does not exceed the limit value. Aspartame is not only found in soft drinks. Photo: Tom Balgaard/news Not just soft drinks For many, the sweetener aspartame is most associated with soft drinks such as Pepsi Max and Cola without sugar. On Friday, news looked at which other grocery products contain the controversial sweetener. The list only consists of some of the products that contain aspartame. Soft drinks A number of soft drink variants contain aspartame: Pepsi Max Cola without sugar Coca-Cola Light Cola Zero Cola X without added sugar Solo Super Sprite Zero Prima Cola sugar free Mozelle Light 7up Free Urge without sugar Fanta Orange No Sugar Villa Light An adult weighing 70 kilos must drink between three and five liters of soft drink to exceed the limit of 40 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight. Photo: Håkon Benjaminsen / news Energy drink Red Bull sugar-free Powerade Battery Nocal Other beverages Biola without added sugar Tine Litago Chocolate without added sugar from Tine Litago Brownie Salt Caramel without added sugar from Tine Q Chocolate milk without added sugar Greven’s Cider without sugar Food Piano Vanilla sauce Zero Piano Chocolate pudding without added sugar from Tine Mager Kesam Vanilla without sugar from Tine Yoghurt Go’morgen Yoghurt without added sugar from Tine Skyr Yoghurt Q Yoghurt without added sugar news’s emissaries got more than just soft drinks in search of products with aspartame. Photo: Håkon Benjaminsen / news Chewing gum Extra chewing gum Stimorol Max Dietary supplement Berocca Bayer Vitamin B complex with vitamin C and minerals effervescent tablets Calcium-Sandoz Novartis effervescent tablets Nycoplus Magnesium “Orifarm Healtcare” chewing tablet news’s correspondent, Silje Haugen Myrseth, found several food and beverages with aspartame. Photo: Håkon Benjaminsen / news Medisiner The joint catalog gives 39 different hits on medicines that contain aspartame. Below you can see some of them: Penicillin: Imacillin Recip Aminopenicillin Pain reliever: Paracet Weifa dissolvable tablets for children Paracet “Karo Pharma” effervescent tablet Pamol Nycomed Pharma dissolvable tablets for children Pinex Forte Teva effervescent tablets Allergy medicine: Aerius Schering-Plough Antihistamine dissolvable tablets Migraine medicines: Maxalt Rapitab MSD dissolvable tablets Zomig Rapimelt AstraZeneca melting tablets Antidepressants: Remeron-S Organon melting tablets news has been in contact with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority regarding whether they will come up with new recommendations on aspartame after it has emerged that the sweetener can be carcinogenic. They reply that they comply with regulations from the EU and it has been decided that they shall comply with EFSA’s risk assessments.
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