Downtown Luxury Slum

Putting on my Registered Dietitian Nutritionist hat for a minute. Buckle up.

Did you see all of the super shocking headlines earlier this month like “The WHO is about to declare aspartame can cause cancer. Here’s why you should listen” from VOX, or “Exclusive: WHO’s cancer research agency to say aspartame sweetener a possible carcinogen” from Reuters?

Well it turns out the leaked information was wrong. Or maybe the headlines are just misleading and the articles are actually accurate. I don’t know, I didn’t read them.

The Quick and Dirty, Boring, Honest Truth:

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) based on limited evidence for cancer in humans (for hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer). They found limited evidence for cancer in experimental animals. They found limited evidence that aspartame exhibits key characteristics of carcinogens.

Meanwhile back at camp, the World Health Organization (WHO) got together with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to form the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Based on the results of the oral carcinogenicity studies of aspartame, the absence of evidence of genotoxicity, and a lack of evidence on a mechanism by which oral exposure to aspartame could induce cancer, the JECFA concluded that it is not possible to establish a link between aspartame exposure in animals and the appearance of cancer.

So they reaffirmed the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 0–40 mg/kg body weight for aspartame.

Acceptable Daily Intake of Aspartame by Zodiac Sign

Aquarius	0–40 mg/kg body weight based on analysis of the data
Libra	0–40 mg/kg body weight to maintain balance
Capricorn	0–40 mg/kg body weight, consistently
Taurus	0–40 mg/kg body weight is the practical approach
Leo	0–40 mg/kg body weight because you know what you want
Cancer	0–40 mg/kg body weight because you are loyal
Pisces	0–40 mg/kg body weight to connect with others
Scorpio	0–40 mg/kg body weight because you are passionate
Gemini	0–40 mg/kg body weight in an inquisitive yet adaptable way
Sagitarius	0–40 mg/kg body weight, but be spontaneous about it
Aries	0–40 mg/kg body weight because you are courageous
Virgo	0–40 mg/kg body weight because you are a perfectionist

In conclusion, there is limited evidence that suggests that aspartame is possibly carcinogenic to humans and the amount that is considered acceptable to consume has not changed.

My Unsolicited Expert Advice:

Aspartame tastes nasty and is not essential to humans.

If you need your soda, I’m not telling you to switch to regular. And I’m not telling you to switch to drinks sweetened with something else random. Based on the official recommendations, a 150 pound person can still consume a dozen cans of aspartame sweetened diet soda every day. A heavier person can consume more.

There are also a lot of questions about how aspartame is metabolized and what other icky effects it might have on our bodies. So I’m certainly not encouraging you to drink a dozen diet sodas a day.

But like maybe try cutting back on soda (diet or otherwise) and drinking more boring water, or lightly sweetened tea, or add a little fruit juice to your water?

Here’s the official IARD + JECFA press release and links to the summary of findings and more if you want to nerd out more.