The World Health Organization released its official report this week on the health risks of aspartame, classifying the low-calorie artificial sweetener as “carcinogenic to humans.”

However, many industry experts are speaking out in defense of aspartame, which is commonly used in soft drinks, chewing gum, some dairy products and many low-calorie foods and drinks, a Fox News alum reported.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a cancer-focused organization within the World Health Organization, has reported that aspartame is a possible human carcinogen.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer uses five different levels of cancer risk: Group 1 “carcinogenic to humans”; Group 2a “May be carcinogenic to humans”; Group 2B: “Probably carcinogenic to humans”; Group 3: “Cannot be classified as carcinogenic to humans”; and Group 4: “Not carcinogenic to humans.”

Aspartame was placed in Group 2B based on “limited evidence” that it causes liver cancer in humans and animals – specifically a type of liver cancer.

In the same announcement, another group within the World Health Organization, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), opposed the IARC designation.

The JECFA Joint Expert Panel reviewed the evidence of cancer risk in animal and human studies and concluded that the evidence for a link between aspartame consumption and cancer in humans was not convincing.

The panel added that the acceptable daily intake of aspartame is 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. That’s the equivalent of nine 12-ounce diet sodas per day for a 150-pound (68-kilogram) person.

Does the substance cause cancer?

“Our results do not indicate that occasional consumption poses a risk to most consumers,” Dr. Francesco Franca, director of the World Health Organization’s Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, told a press conference in Geneva.

For her part, Dr. Mona S. Said: Javieri, a biotechnologist and cancer researcher in Ridgefield, Connecticut, told Fox News that the likelihood of developing cancer depends on the types and number of cancers a person is exposed to in addition to genetic factors.

“Carcinogens can act alone or in combination with other substances,” he said. “People exposed to multiple carcinogens may have a significantly increased risk of developing cancer,” he added.

Industry experts defend aspartame

Many industry experts still consider aspartame safe for consumption — including the US Food and Drug Administration, which issued a report denying the cancer risk.

“The Food and Drug Administration disagrees with the IARC’s conclusion that these studies support the classification of aspartame as a possible human carcinogen,” the report said.

“FDA scientists reviewed the scientific information in the 2021 IARC review that was first made available and identified significant flaws in the studies the agency relied on,” he continued.

The FDA added that additional agencies, including the European Food Safety Authority and Health Canada, have determined that aspartame is safe at current recommended levels.

The FDA stated, “Aspartame is one of the most studied food additives in the human food supply…FDA scientists have no safety concerns when using aspartame under approved conditions.”

Dr. Arnold Basquis, a surgical oncologist from New Jersey and former president of the American Cancer Society’s national board of directors — who is also a member of the expert advisory board of the Alliance for Safe Food and Beverage — has reviewed previous research from WHO agencies, including IARC and JECFA. Return new resources.

“A review by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the World Health Organization says aspartame is safe for human consumption — the authoritative international body when it comes to food safety,” Basquis said in a statement to Fox News.

Pasquis noted that the FDA relies on the Joint Expert Panel’s evaluations as part of its process to determine the safety and risks of foods and beverages. “It would be irresponsible to unnecessarily scare or confuse people,” he said, “and if there was any reason for concern, they would have adjusted their current acceptable daily intake.”

Aspartame is a non-nutritive artificial (chemical) sweetener that has been widely used in a variety of food and beverage products since the 1980s, including diet drinks, chewing gum, gelatin, ice cream, dairy products, breakfast cereals, toothpaste, and pharmaceuticals. Cough tablets and chewable vitamins.

The International Confectionery Association commented on two studies that included kimchi and other pickled vegetables in the 2-B group with added “aspartame”.

And the association’s general secretary, Frances Hunt Wood, felt that the joint committee had “reaffirmed (aspartame’s) safety after carrying out a thorough, comprehensive and scientifically accurate study”.