Aspartame is an artificial sweetener found in Diet Coke and many other soft drinks. I wanted to learn about the effects of aspartame intake on the body so I decided to look more into the scientific literature. This is especially because earlier last month I heard that the WHO designated Aspartame as a carcinogen.

In this 2002 article, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273230002915424, it is shown that upon various health trials and inspections, aspartame is completely safe for people to ingest, except in the case where people have Phenoketonuria (PKU), a condition where the body is unable to metabolize Phenylalanine, resulting in a buildup of Phenylalanine in the blood and medical issues such as brain damage, self harm, temper tantrums, and sickness. When aspartame is ingested, it is broken down into the amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine along with a tad bit of methanol. These three things are already found in much higher quantities in the regular diet so aspartame is not a problem.

The article goes on to say that there is a lot of pushback against aspartame because aspartic acid can be excitotoxic, phenylalanine can negatively affect brain function, and formate, which comes from methanol, can be toxic. While these things are true, it is pretty much impossible for a human to ingest the amount of aspartame needed to induce these side effects.

In the 2023 WHO report on aspartame, https://www.who.int/news/item/14-07-2023-aspartame-hazard-and-risk-assessment-results-released, it is said that there are many limitations in the research to suggest that aspartame causes cancer. The IARC, International Agency for Research on Cancer, classified aspartame as group 2B which means that is is possibly carcinogenic (specifically a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma). There is not enough evidence in animal or human testing to conclude that there is a mechanism by which aspartame causes cancer.

“JECFA also considered the evidence on cancer risk, in animal and human studies, and concluded that the evidence of an association between aspartame consumption and cancer in humans is not convincing” - WHO Head of the Standards and Scientific Advice on Food and Nutrition Unit, Dr. Moez Sanaa

The WHO and related organizations are still open to new research on Aspartame safety.

Pretty much to sum it all up, aspartame is safe with possible health risks that are scientifically unfounded. The daily limit of aspartame is so high that I would need to drink over 10 cans of Diet Coke per day in order to reach it, which is mad.

I liked learning about this a lot. It was really fun to read about this. Yay! Thanks for learning with me.