Artificial sweetener aspartame declared possible carcinogen. What are the risks?

globalnews.ca:

Aspartame, a popular artificial sweetener commonly used in sugar-free soft drinks, desserts and chewing gum may pose a risk of cancer, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned, but experts who spoke to Global News are not “excessively worried.”

Researchers from WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) assessed the hazard of aspartame and classified it as “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” while noting there was limited evidence for a type of liver cancer and is calling for more research on potential health harms of consumption.

Their findings were released in The Lancet Oncology journal Thursday.

“This shouldn’t really be taken as a direct statement that indicates that there is a known cancer hazard from consuming aspartame,” said Mary Schubauer-Berigan, acting head of the IARC Monographs programme.

“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,” she said during a virtual news conference earlier this week.

Aspartame has fewer calories than sugar and it is one of the most common artificial sweeteners found in diet sodas, like Coke Zero.

By placing it in the Group 2B category, aspartame joins 322 other agents that have been classified as “possibly carcinogenic,” according to the IARC.

Aloe Vera, diesel fuel, gasoline and pickled vegetables also fall in that same category.

A carcinogen does not always cause cancer in every person every time there is any kind of exposure, according to the American Cancer Society.

This latest classification raises more questions about the risks associated with aspartame than presents answers, experts who spoke to Global News said.

“I’m not