Aspartame may cause cancer — just not in humans
It’s amazing how studies that don’t shock people seem to slip through the cracks.
Take this one for example:
In a study of 473,984 men and women, aged 50 to 71, participants were asked to document their aspartame consumption. They were then followed for 5 years. They examined those who had an intake of at least 400 mg daily (about the amount in two diet sodas) and found no link between aspartame and brain cancer, lymphoma, or leukemia.
Research conducted last year caused a stir when it revealed that consumption of moderate levels of aspartame was linked to cancer in rats. The research was highly publicized despite the fact it failed to follow accepted protocols and was for the most part statistically insignificant.
The findings showed:
- A daily dose of 20 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight was linked to lymphomas and leukemias in female — but not male — rats.
- Rats that got daily doses of as little as 4 mg/kg aspartame got lymphomas and leukemias 62% more often than those that got no aspartame, but this finding could have been due to chance.
- A few brain tumors were seen in rats fed aspartame, while those who did not get the sweetener did not get brain tumors. But this finding, too, could have been due to chance.
People love to get worked up about this stuff, but the fact is the safety of aspartame is well established and accepted by reputable organizations around the world including the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Medical Association.
Of course, if you want a conspiracy theory — ask yourself just who might benefit if people believed artificial sweeteners were carcinogenic. Hmmmm….
[tags]aspartame, cancer, carcinogens, studies, artificial sweetners [/tags]