Artificial sweeteners not linked to cancer: Study by Stephen Daniells, 12-Aug-2009

Regular intakes of artificial sweeteners like saccharin and aspartame do not increase the risk of certain cancers, like stomach and pancreatic, suggests a new study from Italy.

According to results of a study with over 3,000 participants published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, the new study supports the safety profile of the sweeteners, including aspartame, in the Italian population.

The use of sweeteners in food and beverage products is widespread and has gathered yet more pace as food firms seek to deliver healthier products, with less sugar, to consumers. According to Leatherhead International, the global market for sweeteners was worth US$1.83bn in 2007.

Although all the sweeteners used in the EU have been approved and are deemed safe by the food safety authorities, internet forums, newspaper reports and some scientific literature continue to garner suspicion.

After saccharin, aspartame is the second most used artificial sweetener in the world. The sweetener has been the subject of cancer claim and counter-claim, particularly in Europe, following publication of findings by scientists from the European Ramazzini Foundation (ERF) that there was a link between the ingredient and cancer in rats (Environmental Health Perspectives, 2007).

In response to the ERF’s reports the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources said there is no indication that aspartame causes cancer following its assessment of a study that linked regular intake of the sweetener with increased risk of certain cancers.

Adding to this are the new results of Cristina Bosetti from the Institue of Pharmaological Research "Mario Negri" in Milan and her co-workers. The Italian scientists performed case-control studies between 1991 and 2004. Data on sweetener consumption, which labelled participants as either users or non-users, was obtained from 230 people with stomach cancer, and 547 healthy controls, 326 people with pancreatic cancer, and 652 healthy controls, and 454 people with endometrial cancer, and 908 health controls.

After adjusting their results for various confounding factors, the researchers state that users of sweeteners were not at an increased risk of any of the cancers. Furthermore, when they divided sweetener use into saccharin and other sweeteners, which is mainly aspartame, none of the results suggested a significant increase in any of the cancer forms. Please insert content...