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Article informationAuthor, James GallagherRole, science and health reporter
4 hours ago
It has been reported that the sweetener aspartame, which is found in various foods and soft drinks, will be officially classified as a possible human carcinogen.
This classification often leaves confusion, because it does not indicate whether the potential risk is large or small.
Substances classified as “possibly carcinogenic” include aloe vera, diesel, and Asian pickled vegetables.
The BBC has learned that the International Agency for Research into Cancer will announce this on July 14.
What does aspartame contain?
Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar. It gives the taste of sugar without the calories.
Aspartame has been in use for decades and has been approved by food safety authorities, but it has always sparked controversy.
The International Agency for Research into Cancer, the research arm of the World Health Organisation, reviewed nearly 1,300 studies on aspartame and cancer.
Reuters spoke to sources close to the research process, and reported that aspartame would be classified as a “probable carcinogen” – but what does this designation mean?
According to BBC information, the classification will be officially announced by the international agency and an independent expert committee specialized in food additives – in addition to publishing it in the Lancet Oncology medical journal, on July 14.
The agency uses four possible classifications:
Group 1: Carcinogenic to humans
Group 2-A: Possibly carcinogenic to humans
Group 2-B: Possibly carcinogenic to humans
Group 3: Not classified
However, there is something that can cause confusion.
Professor of Statistics at the Open University in Britain, Kevin McConway, says that the agency’s classification “doesn’t tell us anything about the current level of danger caused by aspartame, because that is not what the agency’s classifications mean.”
The agency tells us how strong the evidence is, not how dangerous the substance is to your health.
The rating of “likely” is used when evidence about people or data from animal testing is “limited”.
Dr McConway said: “However, I stress that the evidence that these things may cause cancer is not strong, otherwise they would have been placed in group 1 or group 2-A.
IARC classifications have caused confusion in the past, and have been criticized for issuing unnecessary warning. When processed red meat was classified as a carcinogen, this led to reports equating its consumption with smoking.
But the risk of giving 100 people an extra 50g of bacon – on top of whatever they eat – every day for the rest of their lives could lead to one case of bowel cancer.
We don’t have equal numbers for aspartame, however, and the Joint WHO/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Food Additives is due to report in July.
And it was issued in 1981, that eating 40 milligrams per day for every kilogram of your weight, of this substance, may be safe.
The executive director of the International Council of Beverage Societies, Kate Lottman, said health authorities should be “extremely concerned” about the “leaked opinions”. It warned that this “may unnecessarily mislead consumers into consuming more sugar rather than adopting safe, sugar-free and low-sugar options.”
2023-06-30 09:54:25
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