Anger about the artificial sweetener aspartame — which is found in 6,000 food and drink products around the world — is brewing.
On the one hand, you have researchers saying the substance is carcinogenic. On the other hand, you have the industry and manufacturers claiming that the new research is flawed.
The controversy came about, because scientists at the independent European Ramazzini Foundation for cancer research in Bologna claimed that the new results from a long-term, large-scale study of the effect of aspartame on 1,800 rats shows that the substance causes cancer of the kidney and of the peripheral nerves, mainly in the head. The group presented their findings at its international conference on cancer and environmental sciences in Italy last week, The Guardian reported.
Earlier data from the Italian scientists, that was published in July, linked aspartame to an increased risk of leukaemias and lymphomas in female lab rats “at doses very close to the acceptable daily intake for humans”.
One of the authors of the study, Fiorella Belpoggi said: “In our opinion, the results of our first experiment on aspartame call for urgent reconsideration of the rules governing its use as an artificial sweetener.”
Not surprisingly, the artificial sweetener industry — fearful of a downward spiral in sales — denounced the study, according to Food Navigator and The Guardian report.
The Calorie Control Council blasted the Italian study on 1,800 rats — which appeared in the European Journal of Oncology in July — as providing “unreliable” data, not following “internationally established protocol for evaluation of animal carcinogenicity study findings,” and giving the rodents too large a dose of aspartame (some animals were given the equivalent of 2,000 cans of soda a day).
The artificial sweetener industry-based group even denigrated the European Journal of Oncology for not being included in the National Library of Medicine’s MedLine research database, the world’s largest database for medical research.
Meanwhile, the International Sweeteners Association jumped defensively, too, claiming that aspartame “is one of the most tested food ingredients ever and all evaluations undertaken by independent risk assessors at international, European, and national level have concluded that aspartame is a safe foodstuff.”
Methinks both organizations doth protest too much. The study, which I wrote about in July, came up with findings that have been documented previously.
A number of documents and studies point to the dangers of aspartame, as I learned while doing research for my upcoming book, SUGAR SHOCK!
I uncovered some really, ominous, doubt-generating, damning information, which convinced me, without a doubt, that aspartame is dangerous. Indeed, the FDA has received more complaints about aspartame than any other product.
Still ready to gulp down a can of aspartame-filled soda? Before you do it, I urge you:
- Just look at Janet Starr Hull’s Sweet Poison website.
- Then check out all the stats at the Aspartame (Nutrasweet) Toxicity Info Center.
- And read Mercola.com’s scary aspartame info.
Bear in mind the sources here. Who are we to believe? Some scientists who conducted a study or the industry that is seeking to defend itself?