Popular Sweetener Aspartame May Be Declared Carcinogen

The popular sweetener aspartame, commonly used in many diet drinks, will likely soon be categorized as a possible carcinogen by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to Reuters.

It is found in Diet Coke, Dannon Activia yogurt and other everyday foods. 

The WHO told Fortune that its International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) measured the “potential carcinogenic effect” of the sweetener. The body said it will “update its risk assessment” on aspartame.

This will reportedly include new recommendations on daily intake and how prevalent the sweetener should be in an individual’s dietary routine.

The findings do not appear to be conclusive, as the WHO report said there is just limited evidence that aspartame is indeed linked to cancer. Further, the IARC does not determine how much an individual may safely consume, though it will label a product or substance as a potential hazard.

The coming announcement drew significant pushback from the industry. Frances Hunt-Wood, the secretary general of the International Sweeteners Association, fired back that “IARC is not a food safety body.”

She called aspartame “one of the most thoroughly researched ingredients in history, with over 90 food safety agencies across the globe declaring it is safe.”

Despite the lack of conclusiveness from IARC findings, previous determinations of potential harmful risks led to lawsuits and pressure to change recipes.

Because of this, IARC assessments face regular criticisms of being misleading to the public.

Regulators in both the United States and Europe for decades have declared aspartame safe within daily limits. This means that an average adult would have to consume anywhere from 12 to 36 cans of diet beverages per day to assume a risk.

Another review of aspartame’s safety is being conducted by the Joint WHO and Food and Agriculture Organization’s Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Like the IARC assessment, it is scheduled to release its findings on July 14.

The presence of dual research efforts, which supporters called “complimentary,” faced criticism from the industry as well as regulators. Reuters reviewed letters from U.S. and Japanese regulators concerned that the simultaneous efforts will lead to confusion.

The release date of July 14 for both studies is a result of industry efforts to clarify conclusions of the research. Past findings sparked concerns over creating unnecessary alarm.