Everyone knows the classic pink, yellow and blue sugar packets. Whenever I have coffee in the morning, and then another 3 more times throughout the day, my mom always yelled at me for putting in artificial sweeteners. She claims they cause cancer. Although it seems to me at this point everything causes cancers and it’s completely inevitable to prevent, it led me to wonder: do artificial sweeteners cause cancer? I decided to look into further research in order to try and find an official answer.

Artificial sweeteners, otherwise known as sugar substitutes are used to replace traditional sugar in order to sweeten foods and beverages. Any foods that are labeled as “sugar free” or “diet” tend to have artificial sweeteners in them. Mostly artificial sweeteners are sweeter than traditional sugar by about 200 times and therefore less is needed for the consumer. Many people are using these products with the conception that it is healthier than traditional sugar. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates these artificial sweeteners since it is not to be known as an assumed “safe” food (Mercola 2011).
So what is even in artificial sweeteners thats so bad? Most artificial sweeteners use a chemical called Aspartame. Aspartame was discovered in 1965 it is made out mostly out of aspartic acid (about 40%.) Aspartame doesn’t break down once digested. According to Lendon Smith, M.D. some side affects from Aspartame include decrease in eye vision, ringing or buzzing sounds in ears, headaches, memory loss, sleepiness and even depression” (Janet Starr Hull 2002).
Several studies have been conducted to reveal a link between artificial sweeteners and cancer. Research has been conducted in a lab where animals are fed aspartame, often in high doses of about 4,000 mg/day. So far there have not been any direct links between these animals getting cancer and getting fed aspartame. Although this seems promising, those who are getting tested aren’t humans, therefore it’s difficult to test whether or not the same reaction to aspartame will be for humans. Italian researchers published two studies that stated very high doses of aspartame could increase the risk of some blood related cancers such as leukemias and lymphomas in rats (FDA 2007). Once again these studies do not promise whether or not humans would react the same way as rats. Even the FDA has called these studies into question wondering whether or not there is enough data to back up this hypothesis (American Cancer Society 2015).

Although tests are always easier to perform on animals, there have been several studies conducted on people. One study suggested that the increase of brain tumors in the US during the 1980’s was related to aspartame. However, the American Cancer Society proceeded to fight against the study stating that “the increase in brain tumor rates actually began back in the early 1970’s, well before aspartame was in use.” Another study from researchers from the National Cancer Institute looked at cancer rates in more than 500,000 adults. This study found that those who drank aspartame contained beverages compared to those who didn’t did not have an increase risk of lymphomas, leukemias, or any brain cancers (NCI 2015). This research according to the National Cancer Institute completely contradicts the previous research. Since 500,000 people is a large portion of people for a study, most likely aspartame doesn’t cause brain tumors. On the other hand, there was a recent study which over 125,000 people participated in. This study found a link between consumption of aspartame sweetened soda and the risk of leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma both only in men (American Cancer Society 2015). As a result, most researchers have concluded that this link is due to chance. Both the FDA and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have found aspartame to be safe enough to be consumed, although research regarding a potential link between aspartame and cancer is still occurring. Since aspartame is a major ingredient within artificial sweeteners it remains unknown whether or not they are bad for you. Ultimately traditional sugar is probably the safer option regardless since facts about that are more known.

Works Cited:

Artificial Sweeteners and Cancer (2015 ). In National Cancer Institute . Retrieved from http://
www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet/artificial-sweeteners-fact-sheet

Aspartame: By Far the Most Dangerous Substance Added to Most Foods Today (2011). In
Mercola . Retrieved from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/06/
aspartame-most-dangerous-substance-added-to-food.aspx

Aspartame Side Effects (2002). In Janet Starr Hull . Retrieved from http://
www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-side-effects.html

FDA Statement on European Aspartame Study (2007). In Food and Drug Administration.
Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/
FoodAdditivesIngredients/ucm208580.htm