aspartame

The International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) conclusion that the sweetener aspartame "possibly" causes cancer is ... definitely stupid. Meanwhile, you can eat a diet consisting of 91 percent "ultra-processed" food and be healthy. So says a new study. Let's take a closer look.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently concluded that the popular artificial sweetener aspartame, widely used in foods and diet drinks, is “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” an alarming conclusion because aspartame is used in thousands of low-calorie products. However, another WHO organization, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), concluded that it is safe to consume aspartame. Can we make sense of the conflicting conclusions?
Crappy studies on the alleged harm of artificial sweeteners are about as common (and valuable) as a wad of gum stuck under a school chair. Yet, here's another claiming that consumption of artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame and acesulfame-K, are associated with cancer. Shall we dismantle it? I say yes.
There’s an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, and everyone is trying to lose weight. Many individuals use artificial sweeteners to reduce their caloric intake. A recent article titled “Aspartame and cancer: new evidence for causation” is just the latest of several studies over the years that have attempted to link artificial sweeteners – in this case, aspartame – with cancer. Is there any evidence for an association?
Did you ever pop open a Diet Coke, take a sip, and spit it out because it tastes like battery acid? The aspartame has gone "bad." But is that bad for you? Organic chemistry gives us the answer.
"Fake news" has become a meme — and it's all over the Internet. For example, take a look at a site that claims to provide real evidence that aspartame is carcinogenic in humans. Not only does it cite old data, it has picked a study whose authors don't agree with them. Can you get much more fake than that?
There sure are a lot of toxicology "experts" out there on the web, and they really don't like anything that is sweet (except maybe when they sell it). We recently wrote about sucralose (Splenda), which is trashed by these "Internut" know-nothings despite the fact that its safety profile is about as good as you'll ever see. But, these I-nuts are even more verbal about aspartame -- and the more verbal they are, the more they get it wrong.
As the year winds down, we share with you some of our notable videos of the year; some made us laugh, some made us cringe, and some made us better advocates for sound science.
In just a few days, Diet Pepsi will no longer contain the artificial sweetener aspartame. PepsiCo is replacing aspartame in Diet Pepsi, Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi, and Wild
Dr. Joe Schwarcz, chemistry professor at McGill University, is well known for his able dissections of quackery of all types. In a recent article in the Montreal Gazette, he takes on and (in our opinion) demolishes the attacks on aspartame.
The latest in health news: Chipotle, Kraft, 7 PepsiCo ditch GMOs and aspartame in the name of marketing, not public health, and Alex Berezow [from RealClearScience] tells it like it is in his open letter to Dr. Oz- don't miss it!
Corporate flights from science, Part 2 and 3: Caving to consumer concerns. (For Part 1: see Mac/Cheese). Chipotle rids itself of GMOs, while Pepsi eliminates aspartame from Diet Pepsi for sucralose. Major benefit for...public health? Not.