WHO cancer arm deems aspartame 'possible carcinogen'; consumption limits
unchanged
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[July 14, 2023]
By Jennifer Rigby
LONDON (Reuters) -The sweetener aspartame is a "possible carcinogen" but
it remains safe to consume at already-agreed levels, two groups linked
to the World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Friday.
The rulings are the outcome of two separate WHO expert panels, one of
which flags whether there is any evidence that a substance is a
potential hazard, and the other which assesses how much of a real-life
risk that substance actually poses.
Aspartame is one of the world's most popular sweeteners, used in
products from Coca-Cola diet sodas to Mars' Extra chewing gum.
In a press conference ahead of the announcement, the WHO's head of
nutrition, Francesco Branca, suggested consumers weighing beverage
choices consider neither aspartame nor sweetener.
"If consumers are faced with the decision of whether to take cola with
sweeteners or one with sugar, I think there should be a third option
considered - which is to drink water instead," Branca said.
In its first declaration on the additive, announced early on Friday, the
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), based in Lyon,
France, said aspartame was a "possible carcinogen".
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That classification means there is limited evidence a substance can
cause cancer.
It does not take into account how much a person would need to consume to
be at risk, which is considered by a separate panel, the WHO and Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Joint Committee on Food Additives (JECFA),
based in Geneva.
After undertaking its own comprehensive review, JECFA said on Friday
that it did not have convincing evidence of harm caused by aspartame,
and continued to recommend that people keep their consumption levels of
aspartame below 40mg/kg a day.
JECFA first set this level in 1981, and regulators worldwide have
similar guidance for their populations.
Several scientists not associated with the reviews said the evidence
linking aspartame to cancer is weak. Food and beverage industry
associations said the decisions showed aspartame was safe and a good
option for people wanting to reduce sugar in their diets.
The WHO said the existing consumption levels meant, for example, that a
person weighing 60-70kg would have to drink more than 9-14 cans of soda
daily to breach the limit, based on the average aspartame content in the
beverages - around 10 times what most people consume.
"Our results do not indicate that occasional consumption could pose a
risk to most consumers," said Branca.
LIMITED EVIDENCE
Reuters first reported in June that the IARC would put aspartame in
group 2B as a "possible carcinogen" alongside aloe vera extract and
traditional Asian pickled vegetables.
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![](../images/071423PIX/health1.jpg)
Sodas on shelves at a Vons grocery store
in Pasadena, California, U.S., June 10, 2020. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni//File
Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jul/14/images/ads/current/graue_lda_preowned_071023.jpg) The IARC panel said on Friday it had
made its ruling based on three studies in humans in the United
States and Europe that indicated a link between hepatocellular
carcinoma, a form of liver cancer, and sweetener consumption, the
first of which was published in 2016.
It said limited evidence from earlier animal
studies was also a factor, although the studies in question are
controversial. There was also some limited evidence that aspartame
has some chemical properties that are linked to cancer, the IARC
said.
"In our view, this is really more a call to the research community
to try to better clarify and understand the carcinogenic hazard that
may or may not be posed by aspartame consumption," said Mary
Schubauer-Berigan, acting head of the IARC Monographs programme.
Scientists with no links to the WHO reviews said the evidence that
aspartame caused cancer was weak.
"Group 2B is a very conservative classification in that almost any
evidence of carcinogenicity, however flawed, will put a chemical in
that category or above," said Paul Pharaoh, a cancer epidemiology
professor at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He said
JECFA had concluded there was no "convincing evidence" of harm.
"The general public should not be worried about the risk of cancer
associated with a chemical classed as Group 2B by IARC," Pharaoh
said.
Nigel Brockton, vice president of research at the American Institute
for Cancer Research, said he anticipates research into aspartame
will take the form of large, observational studies that account for
any intake in aspartame.
Some doctors expressed concern that the new classification of
"possible carcinogen" might sway drinkers of diet soda to switch to
caloric sugar beverages.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jul/14/images/ads/current/napa_sda_HEROES_2023.png)
Therese Bevers, medical director of the Cancer Prevention Center at
the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, said
"the possibility of weight gain and obesity is a much bigger problem
and bigger risk factor than aspartame could ever be."
The WHO conclusion "once again affirms that aspartame is safe," said
Kate Loatman, executive director of the International Council of
Beverage Associations, based in Washington.
"Aspartame, like all low/no calorie sweeteners, when used as part of
a balanced diet, provides consumers with choice to reduce sugar
intake, a critical public health objective," said Frances Hunt-Wood,
secretary general of the Brussels-based International Sweeteners
Association.
(Additional reporting by Elissa Welle and Richa Naidu; Editing by
Caroline Humer, Catherine Evans and Leslie Adler)
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