Release date: 2015-04-30
PepsiCo announced on Friday that the US-solded soda will stop using aspartame and replace it with sucralose.
Reason? Weak sales. The Wall Street Journal said that consumer surveys show that "soda water contains aspartame, which is the main reason why Americans reduce their purchases of diet soda."
However, the driving force behind this trend seems to be a general, largely unfounded fear of aspartame. This move may benefit Pepsi's business. But it should not help to eliminate the decades-old mistakes about artificial sweeteners.
Aspartame does not seem to be any risk
Aspartame has been studied for more than 30 years and there is no evidence to date that it has any harm to humans. The European Food Safety Authority recently completed one of the most thorough risk assessments of aspartame to date and examined all available research evidence.
It concludes? “The evidence provided by the animal and human surveys has been thoroughly evaluated, and experts have ruled out the potential risks of aspartame that may cause genetic damage or cancer. They found that aspartame does not harm the brain or nerves. The system does not affect the behavior or cognitive function of children or adults.
Similarly, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has found that artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, do not appear to be carcinogenic. NCI pointed out that people's panic about these chemicals may come from some preliminary investigations in mice, showing that artificial sweeteners are associated with bladder cancer. However, subsequent surveys have shown that these results only apply to mice, and large human studies have not found strong evidence of their association.
Aaron Carroll, an evidence-based pediatrician and health commentator, has a good article at CNN about science and hype about aspartame.
Dr. Carroll explains the science behind Aspartame:
Aspartame was first approved for use in 1981, but concerns about its health effects only appeared 15 years later. A 1996 survey showed that the number of brain tumor patients has increased in the near future, and it is speculated that this is caused by aspartame. Be aware that it does not prove that this is the truth. But this potential connection is enough to make the media madly competing for coverage. TV shows, magazine articles and newspapers all question the safety of this artificial sweetener.
The next survey, using data from the National Cancer Institute, showed that the number of patients with brain tumors increased, as early as 1973, when the use of aspartame was far away. Moreover, the increase in the incidence of cancer is most pronounced in the elderly, but this group is not the main consumer of diet soda.
Also, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial showed that aspartame did not affect memory, behavior, or mood. Another 2006 survey tracked more than 285,000 men and nearly 190,000 women, and could not find any association between aspartame and brain cancer or blood cancer.
It has been suggested that artificial sweeteners may interfere with the flora in the intestine, but these experiments are only carried out in animals, and investigators are not sure whether these findings are applicable to humans.
As for what some people seem to be afraid of: Does aspartame and other artificial sweeteners cause weight gain? There is no clear evidence here. Some researchers have found that artificial sweeteners promote weight gain, but other surveys have shown that they can help reduce weight. Dr. Carroll explained, “People tend to overcompensate for the calories they save because of changing drinks (imagine people who order a drink and then order desserts to reward themselves). But in those cases, it’s not dieting that causes weight gain. Drink, but the behavior of a dieter.
Susan Swithers, a professor at Purdue University who once studied artificial sweeteners, told Vox, "My opinion on the human survey data is: If you want a report, you can find such a report.
Pepsi is responding to consumer demands, not science
In light of this evidence, Swithers recommends that people use a common-sense approach when treating artificial and “natural†sweeteners:
“Our food supply has been overly sweetened,†she said. “We saw that fat used to kill us 30 years ago, so we saw a significant increase in the use of caloric sweeteners. Now, manufacturers are replacing them with artificial sweeteners to cater to the tastes we have changed.â€
“My advice is: we must reduce the use of all sweeteners.â€
Our conclusion is: We know that "natural" added sugar will kill us, but there is no evidence that artificial sweeteners (including aspartame) are harmful. Pepsi's move may be to respond to consumer demands, but they are definitely not responding to science.
Source: Translation Network
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