New Study Further Confirms Safety of Aspartame

26/03/07 A new study, published in the Annals of Oncology, has provided further confirmation that aspartame consumption is not linked to cancers, Ajinomoto have said. The study, which evaluated case-control studies of more than 7,000 men and women of all ages, concluded that the findings provided "no evidence that saccharin or other sweeteners (mainly aspartame) increase the risk of cancer at several common sites in humans."

The Italian researchers, led by Dr Silvano Gallus, collected data from northern, central and southern Italy over a 13 year period, comparing the level of sweetener consumption by cancer patients with that of a control group of non-cancer patients. The statistical analysis found no correlation between sweetener consumption and cancer rates at nine common cancer sites in the human body.

This latest confirmation of aspartame's safety comes in addition to an epidemiological study by the United States National Cancer Institute, which found no link between aspartame and brain tumours, and the unequivocal findings of the European Food Safety Authority's review, published in May 2006.

Researchers have estimated that, across Europe, excess weight is responsible for 70,000 new cancer cases every year. By providing an excellent sweet taste without the calories of sugar, aspartame can help people to avoid overweight and obesity and its associated diseases.

A study recently conducted by a team of British researchers provided further confirmation of aspartame's benefits for weight control . The researchers, led by Margaret Ashwell, conducted a rigorous meta-analysis of 16 studies examining the effect of substituting sugar with aspartame. The results of the analysis showed that, by substituting one sugar-sweetened soft drink with its aspartame-sweetened alternative every day, an annual weight saving of 5kg (11 pounds) can be achieved.

In 2005 alone, low calorie soft drinks saved a total of 2,210 billion Calories in Western Europe, according to Canadean. Ajinomoto write that aspartame enables people to save calories without compromising on taste. This is an attractive proposition for consumers and is reflected in buoyant sales of products in which aspartame is used as the principal low calorie sweetener. In the last five years there has been a 30% increase in the consumption of low-calorie carbonates, driven largely by products which have a high aspartame content.

1. Ashwell M, de la Hunty A, Gibson S. A review of the effectiveness of aspartame in helping with weight control. Nutrition Bulletin 2006; 31: 115-128