What Foods Contain Aspartame? What You Need to Know – Green Matters

The artificial sweetener aspartame is the subject of a cancer research study by the World Health Organization. What foods contain aspartame?

For most food products, especially soda products, every brand has a "zero sugar" or artificial sweetener option. However, those who thought Diet Coke was a healthier alternative to the full-sugar Coca-Cola might want to rethink their stance.

On June 29, 2023, Reuters reported that the World Health Organization (WHO)'s cancer research agency may declare aspartame, an artificial sweetener typically found in Diet Coke, a possible carcinogen in July 2023.

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What foods contain aspartame? Are there any diet sodas that do not contain aspartame? Can you safely consume small amounts of aspartame? Keep reading for everything you need to know about the sugar substitute, including exclusive insight from a board-certified cardiologist.

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In late June 2023, Reuters published a report on aspartame. According to Reuters, two sources claim that in July 2023, aspartame will be declared "possibly carcinogenic to humans" for the first time by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the WHO's cancer research arm.

"Aspartame has been suspected as a potential carcinogen, meaning a substance that often dose dependent might induce mutagenesis, the development of certain cancers," Dr. Ernst von Schwarz, author of The Secrets of Immortality, explains to Green Matters via email.

Dr. von Schwarz is also a triple board-certified internist and cardiologist, holding positions at at Cedars-Sinai, UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, and the Southern California Hospital Heart Institute.

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That said, Dr. von Schwarz notes that the new findings are only in relation to animal experiments, and that not much human data on the topic is available.

Overall, the WHO's new guidelines don't "mean that everyone who consumes aspartame as an artificial sweetener will develop cancer, but its risk in high and repeated doses might be comparable to the risk of a smoker developing cancer," according to Dr. von Schwarz.

Aspartame was previously approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for product use and declared "safe for the general population."

According to CBS News, there are nearly 6,000 products currently for sale in the U.S. that contain aspartame. The artificial sweetener first surfaced in 1981 under names such as Nutrasweet, Equal, and Sugar Twin.

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The most common foods that contain aspartame include:

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Unfortunately, Reuters says that the IARC ruling on aspartame does not consider how much of the product humans can safely consume. Advice on safe amounts of aspartame would come from a different committee known as JECFA (the Joint WHO and Food and Agriculture Organization's Expert Committee on Food Additives). Luckily, JECFA is compiling their own research on aspartame, and will release their report on July 14, 2023.

That said, Reuters reports that since 1981, IARC said aspartame is safe to consume daily within reason. For example, an adult weighing 132 pounds would have to drink between 12-32 cans of diet soda to be considered at risk.

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Similarly, the FDA's acceptable daily limit on artificial sweeteners says that adults weighing 150 pounds would have to drink more than 18 cans of sodas with aspartame daily to experience the negative effects.

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There are a few diet sodas without aspartame; most notably, Diet Pepsi announced it would no longer use aspartame in 2020. Other diet sodas without aspartame include:

Dr. von Schwarz notes that Dr. Deidre Tobias, a nutritionist at Harvard University, told The Daily Mail that there may not be enough evidence that aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are not necessarily worse than regular sugar, since sugar has been linked to so many serious conditions, like obesity, heart disease, and strokes.

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Additionally, "sugar is highly addictive, and not only a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, but likely also for several chronic inflammatory conditions," Dr. von Schwarz tells Green Matters.

Overall, Dr. von Schwarz's advice regarding how to sweeten things up is to "avoid artificial sweeteners, and reduce sugar consumption in general, in combination with daily physical activities."

This article, originally published on June 30, 2023, at 10:38 a.m. ET, has been updated to include commentary from Dr. Ernst von Schwarz.

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What Foods Contain Aspartame? What You Need to Know - Green Matters