WHO Announces Aspartame May Cause Cancer

Citizens display the artificial sweetener aspartame in Yichang, Hubei province, China, July 14, 2023. The World Health Organization announced on the 14th that the artificial sweetener aspartame is listed as a "possible carcinogen." The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) jointly issued a report on the hazards and risk assessment of aspartame, which classified aspartame as a "probable carcinogen" (IARC Class 2B) based on "limited evidence" that aspartame has carcinogenicity in humans. And reiterated that the recommended allowable daily intake is less than 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that has been used since the 1980s in a wide variety of food and beverage products, including sugar-free beverages, chewing gum, gelatin, ice cream, dairy products such as yogurt, breakfast cereals, toothpaste, cough syrups, and chewable vitamin tablets.