Panic on aspartame: actual worry or false alert? | EUROtoday

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Lhe younger generations, who haven’t skilled the violent anti-party campaigns which have adopted each other in latest a long time, may have been capable of really feel, this February 4, a sure wind of panic. Taken up by the virtually integration of the French press, a shock marketing campaign, launched by Foodwatch associations, the Cancer League and the Yuka firm (an utility that makes it attainable to scan the barcode of merchandise with a view to know their influence on Health), accuses the sweetener of selling most cancers, calls for its ban in Europe and launches a petition to place stress, by way of public opinion, in Brussels and on the Member States.

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“Aspartame is associated with a large number of pathologies, including higher risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, type 2. diabetes. It is also accused of disturbing the intestinal microbiota,” stated Ablomb, on all Antennas, numerous spokespersons of the associations concerned, raining their alerts on the press like a “bombs”.

Panic

An nervousness -provoking communication, a thousand leagues from the true state of scientific information, which has surprised to oncologists … “No new information makes it possible to launch this alert. Or it is necessary to prohibit the pill, the hormone substitute treatment and so many other substances with comparable relative risks … It is absurd! “Out of social networks, Doctor Jérôme Barrière, oncologist and member of the Scientific Council of the French Cancer Society (SFC).

“When you launch this type of simplifying message, you must measure the risks that this can cause in terms of potential behavior changes. Is it preferable that a teenager abandons his zero coca and falls back on a sweet soda? We lose any notion of proportion, ”he explains to Point. “The major causes of most cancers are recognized: alcohol, tobacco, weight problems, sedentary way of life … and so they crush all the pieces. Other causes are suspected, for instance extremely -formed meals. But, for aspartame, the extent of proof is extraordinarily low, “insists the specialist, saying to himself” landed “that the whole press relayed the” alert “” with out checking something “.

What about, precisely?

Aspartame is a non -nutritious sweetener, whose successful flavor is about 200 times higher than that of sucrose [le sucre, NDLR] And which therefore allows it to be replaced without providing additional calories. Discovered in 1965, it is used in thousands of products worldwide and since its first authorization in 1974 remains one of the most studied food additives, with more than 100 studies evaluating its potential toxicity. Europe awarded him the reference E951.

Based on these numerous studies, a Noael [No Observed Adverse Effect Level, NDLR]or dose without observable harmful effect, has been established: it designates the maximum quantity of a substance that induces any harmful effect on a population exposed to it. For aspartame, it is 4,000 mg per kilo of body weight per day. That is to say, for an adult of 70 kg, 280,000 mg, or 280 grams.

Based on this Noael, health agencies applied a 100 security factor to fix the DJA [dose journalière admissible, NDLR] 40 mg per kilo of body weight and per day for humans, according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). In the United States, the FDA set a slightly higher DJA, 50 mg per kilo per day. Concretely, an adult of 60 kg can ingest every day, all his life, 2,400 mg (2.4 g) aspartame without running the slightest risk for his health (the dose reaching 3.2 g per day for an adult 80 kg and 1.2 g per day for a 30 kg child))

By way of comparison, the permissible daily dose for caffeine is much lower, fixed at 5 mg per kilo of body weight and per day – which is why it is highly recommended that children are not exposed to it at all. In real life, for a “mild” soda containing approximately 180 mg of aspartame per can, it would therefore take more than 13 cans per day to reach the DJA of an adult of 60 kg.

What does WHO say?

The controversy was briefly relaunched in 2023, when the International Center for Research on Cancer (CIRC) classified aspartame as “maybe carcinogen” (group 2B). The Committee of Experts at the time justified this new classification by the fact that the proofs of an association with liver cancer, discussed, had appeared “restricted”, on the basis of studies carried out on humans and on rats In recent decades. Conversely, transformed meat (cold cuts) has been classified as a “confirmed” carcinogen, and hot water as a “possible carcinogen”. The FDA has firmly rejected this conclusion, stressing the “important gaps” of the studies used by the CIR.

On July 14, 2023, the WHO and FAO joint committee (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) declared that the recommended limits for daily consumption of Aspartame would not be modified, this new classification of the Circular not changing its toxicological evaluation.

New “proof”?


To uncover



The kangaroo of the day

Answer



To justify their “alert”, the authors of the petition launched on February 4 are based mostly on an epidemiological examine of Inserm, printed in 2022. Conduct on 102,865 contributors of the Nutrinet Health cohort (together with 78.5 % girls ), it will establish the primary dangers of most cancers from half a facet of soda to aspartame per day solely. But this examine contains very severe limits, commonly identified by epidemiologists.

“In this study, the rude is 1.15, with a confidence interval from 1.03 to 1.28,” stated Dr. Jérôme Barrière. “This is nearly nothing individually. It is of the identical order as taking the tablet for ten years. And we can’t rule out the truth that individuals who use aspartame produce other related danger elements. In the examine, the age of the primary guidelines, the variety of kids per girl or the age of the primary youngster, recognized danger elements, had been solely knowledgeable for ladies who’ve declared breast most cancers. “The impact of sweet sodas and hyperconsumption of ultra -formed food on infantile obesity are much more worrying risk factors,” annoys the oncologist. “Prohibit aspartame on very low sign, and never confirmed, noticed from a cohort appears disproportionate. Above all, younger individuals shouldn’t fall again on candy sodas. »»


https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/panique-sur-l-aspartame-vraie-crainte-ou-fausse-alerte-04-02-2025-2581567_23.php