Diet Coke: Aspartame, one of the world’s most common artificial sweeteners, is set to be declared a possible carcinogen next month

Diet Coke: Aspartame, one of the world’s most common artificial sweeteners, is set to be declared a possible carcinogen next month.

The food industry expressed serious concerns about the reports on Thursday. “IARC is not a food safety body and their review of aspartame is not scientifically comprehensive and is based heavily on widely discredited research,” Frances Hunt-Wood, the secretary general of the International Sweeteners Association (ISA), said.

The International Council of Beverages Associations executive director, Kate Loatman, said it “could needlessly mislead consumers into consuming more sugar rather than choosing safe no- and low-sugar options”.

There is existing evidence that raises questions about the potential impact of aspartame on cancer risk. A study in France involving about 100,000 adults last year suggested those who consumed larger amounts of artificial sweeteners including aspartame had a slightly higher cancer risk. A study from the Ramazzini Institute in Italy in the early 2000s reported that some cancers in mice and rats were linked to aspartame.

The IARC ruling, finalised earlier this month after a meeting of the group’s external experts, is intended to assess whether something is a potential hazard or not, based on all the published evidence.

It does not take into account how much of a product a person can safely consume. This advice for individuals comes from a separate WHO expert committee on food additives, known as JECFA (the Joint WHO and Food and Agriculture Organization’s Expert Committee on Food Additives), alongside determinations from national regulators.

However, similar IARC rulings in the past for different substances have raised concerns among consumers about their use, led to lawsuits, and pressured manufacturers to recreate recipes and swap to alternatives. That has led to criticism that the IARC’s assessments can be confusing to the public. Since 1981, JECFA has said aspartame is safe to consume within accepted daily limits. For example, an adult weighing 60 kg (132 pounds) would have to drink between 12 and 36 cans of diet soda – depending on the amount of aspartame in the beverage – every day to be at risk. Its view has been widely shared by national regulators, including in the United States and Europe.