The cancer research wing of the World Health Organization (WHO) will declare one of the world’s most common artificial sweeteners a “possible carcinogen” next month.
Aspartame is one of the world’s most common artificial sweeteners and is used in a wide range of diet soft drinks, sugar-free chewing gum, sugar-free ice cream and sugar-free breakfast cereals, etc.
Aspartame, used in products from Coca-Cola diet sodas to Mars Extra chewing gum and some Snapple drinks, will be listed in July as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” for the first time by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
The IARC ruling, finalised earlier this month after a meeting of the group’s external experts, is intended to assess whether something is a potential hazard or not, based on all the published evidence. It does not take into account how much of a product a person can safely consume.
This advice for individuals comes from a separate WHO expert committee on food additives, known as JECFA (the Joint WHO and Food and Agriculture Organization’s Expert Committee on Food Additives), alongside determinations from national regulators.