The World Health Organization's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is likely to declare aspartame, one of the most-used artificial sweeteners across the globe, as carcinogenic for humans.
According to reports by news agencies Reuters and Bloomberg the IARC would be declaring the same on July 14. The Joint WHO-FAO's expert committee on food additives is also expected to release its findings on aspartame on the same day as well.
Last month, the WHO in a guideline had warned against the usage of artificial sweeteners scuh as aspartame, among others, for the purpose of controlling body weight or reducing the risk of non-communicable diseases.
Aspartame is used in a variety of foods such as carbonated drinks such as Coca-Cola, chewing gums, and other beverages like instant tea and coffee.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved aspartame for human consumption in 1981. However, it has since been reviewed for its safety five times, and over 90 countries, including India, have approved its use.
Here’s all you need to know about aspartame:
– Aspartame is one of the most popular non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), which means it has no calories in it.
– Therefore it is commonly used in products labelled as diet, sugar-free, no- or low-calorie and zero sugar.
– Aspartame is made of two key ingredients — aspartic acid and phenylalanine which are naturally occurring amino acids (the building blocks of protein).
– Aspartame produces a small amount of methanol when digested. It is a compound that is present naturally in fruits and vegetables.
– About 95 percent of carbonated soft drinks that come with artificial sweeteners have aspartame in them, as per an NDTV report.
- In a 2009 document, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had mentioned the permitted levels of artificial sweeteners of various food products.
–The FSSAI also mandated proper labelling, which mentioned the name of the sweetener to inform the consumers that the substance has been used in the products.
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