The World Health Organization’s cancer research institute said it considers the most popular artificial sweeter, aspartame, a possible carcinogen.
The Thursday announcement calls into question the safety of many foods and beverages containing the sugar substitute, including diet soda, cough drops and toothpaste. But a Cleveland medical toxicologist said people don’t need to throw away their cans of diet pop or packs of gum, just yet.
Aspartame, which was introduced in the 80s, is the world’s most popular artificial sweetener. The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer said recent studies indicated aspartame may be linked to a higher risk for liver cancer.
University Hospitals’ medical toxicologist Dr. Ryan Marino said he thinks the animal studies used to support the agency’s findings are flawed.
“In toxicology, there's kind of like a cliched phrase that the dose makes the poison," he said. "Drinking 10,000 cans of Diet Coke could cause cancer. It doesn't mean that drinking one can a day for 10,000 days is going to cause cancer. What people should know is that this has been studied extensively.”
While Marino said he can’t rule out that aspartame may cause cancer, he thinks the risk is very low.
“For me, when I look at all of the available data, when I look at the group making this statement and where they're placing this," said Marino. "This will not change the fact that I will still enjoy probably multiple cans of Diet Coke when I'm working in the emergency room.”
A different agency within the WHO said aspartame is safe to consume in small quantities daily, as it said the chemical is not shown to absorb into the bloodstream.
