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Diet Coke sweetener aspartame not linked to cancer, WHO experts rule

Drinks such as Diet Coke that contain the controversial artificial sweetener aspartame have no link to cancer, WHO declares, but how much is too much?

A WHO committee found 'no convincing evidence' of adverse effects from consuming food and drink that contains aspartame. Picture: Getty Images
A WHO committee found 'no convincing evidence' of adverse effects from consuming food and drink that contains aspartame. Picture: Getty Images

Consuming the artificial sweetener aspartame, which is contained in drinks such as Diet Coke, is safe, a World Health Organisation committee has concluded.

Although one arm of the WHO had said the sweetener should be added to a list of potentially cancer-causing substances, another has said there was no convincing evidence of adverse effects from consumption.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a semi- autonomous part of the WHO, rules whether a substance is potentially carcinogenic based on published scientific evidence. It does not, however, take into account how much a person would have to consume for it to be risky.

A second expert committee, the Joint Food and Agriculture Organisation/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, considers evidence of harm and the actual level of risk, and said there was no reason to change the guidance. The average human can safely consume up to 14 cans of diet drink a day, it said.

Holly Willoughby samples a Diet Coke. An expert said people can drink the equivalent of an ‘old gallon’ of diet drinks a day. Picture: Diet Coke
Holly Willoughby samples a Diet Coke. An expert said people can drink the equivalent of an ‘old gallon’ of diet drinks a day. Picture: Diet Coke

There was widespread consternation when the IARC ruling that aspartame should be listed as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” was leaked last month. It is also in products such as chewing gum and ice cream.

Further details have now been published that show the decision was based on “limited evidence” from studies showing a correlation between aspartame and liver cancer, some apparent effects in animal tests, and chemical properties possibly linked to cancer. Experts have now said the studies had not proved a causal link. The increased chance of liver cancer might, for example, be because people who are overweight are more prone to that disease and drink diet beverages to lose weight.

Paul Pharoah, a professor of cancer epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said the animal studies were thought to have serious flaws: “The evidence that aspartame causes primary liver cancer or any other cancer in humans is very weak.”

The Times

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/diet-coke-sweetener-safe-after-all-who-experts-rule/news-story/bb75ea4c873d6a113907d475d24f58ee