Coca-Cola began blending aspartame into Diet Coke in the 1980s.
The artificial sweetener is used in lots of products from diet sodas, to low-sugar jams, yogurts, cereals and chewing gum.
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A committee of 25 international experts has determined that aspartame may “possibly” cause cancer in people, according to a report released Thursday by the World Health Organization.
This new classification, which is based on a review of “limited evidence,” does not change the recommended limit on the daily intake of the artificial sweetener.
“Our results do not indicate that occasional consumption should pose a risk to most consumers,” said Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety at the WHO, during a press conference in Geneva. He said the problem is for “high consumers” of diet soda or other foods that contain aspartame. “We have, in a sense, raised a flag here,” Branca said, and he called for more research.
But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it disagrees with this new classification, pointing to evidence of safety. In a written statement, an FDA official told NPR that aspartame being labeled by the WHO “as ‘possibly carcinogenic to humans’ does not mean that aspartame is actually linked to cancer.” READ MORE