– It is still safe as long as the intake of aspartame does not exceed the limit value. That’s what senior researcher at the Institute of Public Health (FHI), Trine Husøy, says. 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 a possible carcinogen. – 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. Three liters of soft drink WHO emphasizes in its assessment that the amount most people take in is safe. The previously established recommendation of a maximum daily intake of up to 40 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight therefore remains in place. Since the 1980s, aspartame has been widely used in a number of food and beverages, such as several types of soft drinks, yoghurt, chewing gum and sweetener tablets for coffee and tea. – The intake of aspartame from beverages in Norway was below the limit value at the previous assessment, also for high consumers, and there is therefore little cause for concern, explains Husøy. Senior researcher at FHI, Trine Husøy. A can of soft drink of 0.33 liters can contain 200-300 milligrams of aspartame. An adult weighing 70 kilograms must therefore drink from nine to 14 cans daily, or between three and five litres, to exceed this limit, as long as the person does not ingest aspartame from other food and beverages. The WHO Cancer Research Division has based its assessment on available scientific evidence. The possible cancer risk applies specifically to liver cancer. – Not suitable as public information Jøran Hjelmesæth, section chief of hormones, obesity and the nutrition department at the hospital in Vestfold, agrees that aspartame is completely safe to ingest, if the maximum known limits are observed. – The risk of cancer is by no means clear. It is still a completely unanswered question. So the only health damage soft drinks can cause is, for example, to the teeth. You also have to take that with you, of course, says Hjelmesæth. Jøran Hjelmesæth, section chief of hormones, obesity and the nutrition department at the hospital in Vestfold. Photo: H. Philip Hofgaard He explains that the fact that something is “potentially provoking” is more a research question than a research answer. Hjelmesæth says that there is perhaps some documentation on aspartame which means that it should be investigated, but adds that a lot of safety research has already been done on the substance. – In no way does this report reveal anything new that gives you greater reason to fear that soft drinks or aspartame-containing products are dangerous to health. So this is not suitable as public information. On the contrary, it is apt to create unnecessary fear, says Hjelmesæth. Well studied The USA and Europe have also determined that aspartame is safe in the amounts that most people ingest. The WHO Committee on Food Additives, Jefca, has since 1981 said that aspartame is safe to use in certain amounts. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says in a statement that they do not agree that aspartame belongs to the category of a possible carcinogen, writes NBC News. – Aspartame is one of the most studied additives used in human food. Our researchers are not concerned as long as aspartame is used “in approved conditions,” says a statement from the FDA. The World Health Organization considers the artificial sweetener aspartame to be a possible carcinogen. news has asked people on the street what they think about aspartame. – Recommends water The debate about aspartame has been going on for years, driven in part by consumer activists in the US and a handful of cancer researchers. Critical questions about the use of aspartame emerged shortly after the sweetener was approved by US health authorities some forty years ago. Francesco Branca at a press conference on the night of Friday 14 July 2023. The American consumer organization CSPI has long pushed for a professional assessment of aspartame. Only in 2022 did the WHO decide to put the sweetener under the microscope. – If consumers are faced with a choice between drinking cola with artificial sweeteners or with sugar, then I think a third option should be considered, and that is to drink water to limit the consumption of sweeteners, Branca said at the press conference. – Need for more research In the report, the WHO has placed aspartame in category 2B. It is the third lowest of four categories used by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer: Group 1 – Human carcinogen Group 2A – Probably human carcinogen Group 2B – Possibly human carcinogen Group 3 – Not classifiable Level 2B is usually used when there is limited , but not conclusive, evidence for cancer in humans. If the evidence were strong, aspartame would be placed in a higher category. Doctor Mary Schubauer-Berigan of the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) wants more research into sweeteners. – The evidence is not of sufficiently high quality, or convincing enough. This is really more of a call to the research community to study the sweetener more, says Dr Mary Schubauer-Berigan in WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Cancer researchers believe the WHO declaration may provide an incentive to do more research on aspartame. – I don’t understand how we can draw a conclusion about this without better research studies, said Professor Andy Smith at the University of Cambridge to the Reuters news agency before Friday’s report was presented. Criticism of the WHO Similar WHO decisions, on other sweeteners, have previously led to lawsuits against manufacturers who have had to change recipes and switch to other alternatives. The WHO has previously been criticized for its assessments being “confusing” to the public. Scientists who have no links to the WHO’s new report call the evidence that aspartame can be carcinogenic weak. “Group 2B is a very conservative classification in the sense that almost any evidence of the formation of cancer, no matter how flawed it may be, puts a chemical in this or a higher category,” says Paul Pharaoh, who is a cancer researcher at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He says that Jefca has not concluded that there is “convincing evidence” of health damage. – Most people should not be concerned about the risk of cancer associated with a chemical that is placed in group 2B by IARC, says Pharaoh. Kate Loatman, head of the International Council of Beverage Associations, says that the WHO’s conclusion “once again confirms that aspartame is safe”. – Aspartame, like all other low- or no-calorie sweeteners, and as part of a balanced diet, gives consumers a choice to reduce their intake of sugar, which is an important public health goal, says Frances Hunt-Wood, Secretary General of the International Sweeteners Association.
ttn-69
– Little cause for concern – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
