A new study on the artificial sweetener aspartame may make diet soda lovers breathe a little easier. A large federally funded study done by government researchers at the National Cancer Institute found no link between the consumption of aspartame and elevated risks of brain cancer and blood-related cancers like leukemia. Aspartame is found in the diet version of popular drinks. Fears about aspartame and cancer have plagued the artificial sweetener since it was first approved by the Federal Drug Administration in 1981 and were inflamed by an Italian study last summer done on rats.
That study caused alarm because it showed an increased incidence of lymphoma and other cancers in rats that consumed the equivalent of four to five 20-ounce bottles of diet soda a day for a 150-pound person. In contrast, the National Cancer Institute study, which looked at aspartame consumption among about 567,000 people between the ages of 50 and 69, showed no cause for concern, even among heavy users of aspartame. The Calorie Control Council and the American Beverage Association, both of which represent beverage companies, hailed the study as further evidence that aspartame, despite its bad rap, is a safe food additive.
Michael F Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group that is often critical of the food industry, said that because the study evaluated people aged 50 to 69 and then followed up for five years to check on the incidence of cancer, it may have failed to address the occurrence of cancer for people in their 70s and 80s. Despite that, the findings do take much air out of the idea that aspartame causes cancer.
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