WHO to declare aspartame a possible carcinogen: report

(NEXSTAR) – The World Health Organization is planning to declare aspartame, an artificial sweetener found in diet sodas, soft drinks, and other reduced-sugar gums and condiments, to be a possible carcinogen, according to sources cited by Reuters.

WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) will publicly announce its decision July 14, Reuters reported.

Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin and sucralose, among others, were already declared to be ineffective at helping users with long-term weight control. In May, the health agency urged consumers to avoid sweeteners in order to “improve their health,” linking continued usage to “undesirable effects” such an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and mortality in adults.

WHO’s expected announcement on July 14 could potentially put cancer into that category — for aspartame specifically — calling the sweetener “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” according to sources cited by Reuters. Fortune also cited a leaked report that contained WHO’s decision.

A representative for the IARC was not immediately available to comment on either outlet’s report.

An spokesperson did confirm to CBS MoneyWatch, however, that the IARC would indeed release findings on “the potential carcinogenic effect of aspartame” on July 14.

In addition to the IARC, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JEFCA) is also expected to release its findings on aspartame the same day, Reuters reported.

Aspartame is currently one of six artificial sweeteners approved by the Food and Drug Administration. (Three other plant- or fruit-based sweeteners are also approved as food additives.) But concerns over the sweeteners’ possible link to cancer dates back five decades, after early studies claimed cyclamate — an artificial sweetener — and a blend of cyclamate and saccharin contributed to bladder cancer in lab rats, according to the National Cancer Institute. Cyclamate was ultimately banned in the U.S. as a result.

Later studies determined cyclamate and saccharin do not cause cancer in humans, but cyclamate was never reapproved as a food additive in the U.S.

Additional studies over the years have found the approved artificial sweeteners to be safe for consumption. But in 2019, an advisory group comprised of more than two dozen scientists put forth aspartame as a candidate for review at the IARC’s Monographs program, to reassess the sweetener for carcinogenicity based on the most current evidence.

The IARC’s upcoming assessment of aspartame and its status as a potential carcinogen is not expected to discuss an amount of sweetener that may be considered safe, but rather whether it should be considered to be a potential carcinogen at all, Reuters reported.