What is aspartame, the additive in your diet cola, which the WHO may declare as ‘possibly carcinogenic’?

Source: The post is based on the article “What is aspartame, the additive in your diet cola, which the WHO may declare as ‘possibly carcinogenic’?” published in Indian Express on 29th June 2023

What is the News?

The World Health Organisation(WHO) will be listing the popular sugar substitute aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic to humans”.

What is Aspartame?

Aspartame is a methyl ester of the dipeptide of two natural amino acids, L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine.

Aspartame is about 200 times sweeter than table sugar.It is far less sweet than other artificial sweeteners like advantame and neotame but even then, 1 gram of aspartame has the sweetness intensity of about 8 gm of sugar.

It is used in a wide range of diet soft drinks, sugar-free chewing gum, sugar-free ice cream, sugar-free breakfast cereals, etc.

Is Aspartame dangerous?

Around 100 countries around the world including India, permit the use of aspartame.

There is  also a broad scientific consensus on the safety of aspartame for all groups of people except one — those suffering from phenylketonuria (PKU).

Phenylketonuria(PKU) is a rare inherited disorder in which the patient does not have the enzyme that is needed to break down phenylalanine, one of the two amino acids in aspartame.Foods containing aspartame carry the warning “Not for phenylketonurics”.