WHO officially announced that Aspartame may cause cancer!

According to the official website of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 14th, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today released the assessment results of Aspartame's impact on health.IARC quoted the "limited evidence" of human carcinogenesis and classified Aspartame as possible carcinogenic to humans (IARC2B group), while JECFA reiterated the acceptable daily intake of 40mg/kg body weight

According to the official website of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 14th, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today released the assessment results of Aspartame's impact on health.

IARC quoted the "limited evidence" of human carcinogenesis and classified Aspartame as possible carcinogenic to humans (IARC2B group), while JECFA reiterated the acceptable daily intake of 40mg/kg body weight.

Acommitteeof25 international experts have determined that there are many possible reasons for canceling people, according to a port released Thursday by the WorldHealthOrganization

World Health Organization: Release of Aspartame hazard and risk assessment results

According to the official website of WHO, the International Agency for Research on Cancer cited "limited evidence" of carcinogenicity to human beings and classified Aspartame as a possible carcinogen to human beings (Group 2B of the International Agency for Research on Cancer). The Joint Expert Committee reaffirmed that its daily allowable intake was 40 mg/kg body weight.

Citing "limited evidence" for carpinogenicityinhumans, IARClassified spartacameasposibly carpinogenicitohumans (IARCGroup2B) and JECFReaffirmedtheacceptabletailyintakeof40mg/kgbodyweight

Image source: Visual China

This is the first time that the International Agency for Research on Cancer has evaluated Aspartame and the third time that the Joint Expert Committee has evaluated it.

Aspartame is an artificial (chemical) sweetener, which has been widely used in various food and beverage products since the 1980s, including diet drinks, chewing gum, gelatin, ice cream, yogurt and other dairy products, breakfast cereals, toothpaste, cough syrup, vitamin chewable tablets and other drugs.

Aspartameisanartifical (chemical) Sweetenerwidelyusedinvariousfood and coverage products since the 1980s, including dietdrinks, chewinggum, gelatin, icecream, dairyproductssuchasyogurt, breakfastcereal, tootpasteandmediationssuchaschughdrops and wablevitamins

Dr. Francesco Branca, Director of the Nutrition and Food Safety Department of the World Health Organization, said. "The assessment of Aspartame shows that although safety is not a major problem in terms of commonly used amounts, the potential impact has been described and needs to be investigated through more and better studies."

The assessments so far have indicated that, while safety is not a major concern at the doses w hichara commonly used, potential effects have been described that needs to be invested by more and better studies, "said Dr. Francesco Branca, Director of the Department of Nutrition and FoodSafety, WHO

The Joint Expert Committee concluded that the evaluated data showed no sufficient reason to change the daily allowable intake of 0-40 mg/kg body weight of Aspartame previously determined. Therefore, the committee reiterates that people can confidently consume within this daily limit.
For example, if there is no other food intake, a can of diet soft drinks containing 200 or 300 mg of Aspartame would require an adult weighing 70 kg to drink more than 9-14 cans per day to exceed the daily allowable intake.

According to the previous news, on June 29, Reuters quoted two insiders who said that the International Agency for Research on Cancer under the World Health Organization (WHO) would declare Aspartame as a "possible carcinogen" in July. As soon as the news was released, it sparked a heated discussion among netizens, and related topics also made it to the top of the hot search list.

Five types of carcinogenic factors

At present, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies carcinogenic factors into five categories according to the risk of cancer:

Category 1: Confirmed carcinogenicity to humans

Class 2A: Possibly carcinogenic to humans

Category 2B: May cause cancer to humans

Category 3: It is not yet certain whether it is carcinogenic to humans

Category 4: Basically no carcinogenic effect on the human body

As early as May this year, WHO issued a new guide on non sugar sweeteners, suggesting not to use Aspartame, acesulfame, saccharin and other sweeteners to control weight or reduce the risk of non communicable diseases.

In May, the WorldHealthOrganization (WHO) issued a recommendation against the use of non sugarsweeters (NSS) for weight controller for reducing the issue of non communicable diseases (NCDs)

The World Health Organization points out that a systematic review of existing evidence suggests that the use of non sugar sweeteners does not have any long-term benefits in reducing body fat in adults or children. Long term use of non sugar sweeteners may have potential adverse effects, such as increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and adult mortality.

The WHO guidelines are based on the findings of the system, which uggest that the use of NSS does not confer any long term term term fitting reducing body fatina results. Resultsofthereeviewalsosuggest that the other emaybetential undesirable effects from long term term of NSS, such as increasing driskoftype2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease disease

Controversy has been ongoing for decades

Controversy has been ongoing for decades

In terms of carcinogenicity, the US "Science Center for the Public Interest" issued a statement in 2013 that Aspartame may cause leukemia, lymphoma and other cancers in animal experiments, and it should not appear in the food supply system. However, although some animal experiments claim that Aspartame can induce tumors, JECFA, the US Food and Drug Administration and others previously assessed that Aspartame has no carcinogenic effect on animals. The American Cancer Society previously pointed out that many human studies have shown that there is no relationship between Aspartame and increased cancer risk.

Image source: Visual China

The research released by the European La Marcini Foundation in 2006 showed that long-term intake of 100 mg of Aspartame per kg of body weight in experimental rats could cause a variety of cancers, including lymphomas, leukemias, and schwannomas. However, the United States and the European Union entrusted relevant agencies to review and evaluate the original data of this experiment, and denied its interpretation of the results, and did not recognize that Aspartame has carcinogenic effects.

Astudy from the Ramazzini Institute in Italy in the early 2006 reported that some cancer patients are in and rates are linked to aspartame. However, questions have been raised about the methodology of the second study, including by EFSA, which has been edited

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical nutrition by Harvard University School of Public Health, Austria Ludwig Boltzmann Institute and other institutions in 2012 said that compared with people who do not drink sugar free soda, people who drink more than one glass of sugar free soda containing Aspartame every day will increase the risk of leukemia; Compared with men who do not drink sugarless soda, men who drink more than one glass of sugarless soda containing Aspartame every day will increase the risk of non Hodgkin lymphoma and Multiple myeloma. However, this study is also controversial.

Harvard researchersin 2012 reported on the American Journal of Clinical Nutritions with positive associations between partners taking and increasing drives of non Hodgkin lemphoma and multiple my domains, and for Leukemia in men and women

In terms of neurotoxicity, although it is reported that the level of neurotransmitters in the central nervous system may be changed after giving large doses of Aspartame to animals, a large number of animal experiments and population epidemiological data have not shown that neurobehavioral diseases and symptoms are related to the intake of Aspartame. The Genotoxicity experiment did not find that Aspartame would lead to mutation, teratogenicity and Reproductive toxicity.

In addition, some experts believe that although Aspartame does not have calories like sucrose, it may also increase the risk of obesity.

Image source: Visual China

Stir up the food industry

Prior to the release of this announcement by the World Health Organization, discussions had been ongoing regarding the role of IARC as an organization and the safety of sweeteners.

Frances Hunt Wood, secretary-general of the International Sweetener Association, said "IARC is not a food safety agency. Aspartame is one of the most thoroughly studied ingredients in history. More than 90 food safety agencies around the world have declared it safe, including the European Food Safety Authority, which has conducted the most comprehensive safety assessment of Aspartame so far."

IARCisnotafoodsafetybody, saidFrancesHunt Wood, the secretarygeneral of the International Sweeteners Association Aspartameisone of the most extensively researched stakeholders in history, with over 90 food safety agencies crossing the global declaration of safety, including the European Food Safety Authority, which guided the most comprehensive safety evaluation of aspartame to date

The agency, whose members include Coca Cola's Mars Wrigley and Cargill, said it was "seriously concerned about the IARC review, which may mislead consumers".

Image source: Visual China

Kate Loatman, Executive Director of the International Beverage Association Council, stated that this move "may unnecessarily mislead consumers to consume more sugar instead of choosing safe sugar free and low sugar".

The International Council of Beverages Associations executive director, Kate Loatman, suggested the move "could not be satisfied but miss leads consumers to consume more and choose safer and low sugar options"

Editor: Chen Yuehua

Intern: Ge Jianuo Dai Boxiao

Reference source: WHO official website, Xinhua News Agency, Reuters Guardian, etc

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