Aspartame, commonly sold under its trade names NutraSweet, Equal and Sugar Twin, has long been used in diet foods and drinks as an artificial sweetener. Years of peer-reviewed studies have linked aspartame consumption with weight gain, increased appetite, diabetes, metabolic derangement and obesity-related diseases – one such study even suggested people consuming an abundance of aspartame have an increased risk of cancer.
The new WHO assessment relies on laboratory data, animal studies and human studies that include two large observational studies. One such observational study, an international French survey with 100,000 people participated, suggested aspartame consumption is associated with slightly increased cancer risks – however since this was an observational survey and relied upon participants recalling what they ate or drank, no definitive link could be drawn between aspartame consumption and increased cancer risks and its consumption being the cause.
Another observational study, conducted over 18,000 Swedish participants in 2022, discovered that aspartame consumption is linked with greater amounts of visceral and subcutaneous fat accumulation in the abdomen as well as larger waist sizes. Furthermore, aspartame was associated with an increased risk for health conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes/seizures/shortened pregnancies/headaches.
In May 2023, the World Health Organization advised people to limit their consumption of non-sugar sweeteners, including aspartame, to help control weight. But they didn’t suggest taking products with aspartame off shelves completely and Francesco Branca of W.H.O review stated that aspartame can be consumed safely in moderation by everyone; one estimate states a 150-pound individual would need to drink over 40 cans of diet soda each day in order to reach this threshold.
