Aspartame
Aspartame is an intense sweetener used to replace sugar in foods and drinks. In Australia and New Zealand aspartame is permitted for use as an intense sweetener in a range of foods to specified levels.
The safety of aspartame has been the subject of comprehensive reviews by FSANZ, the FAO/WHO Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). Scientific evidence to date supports the safety of aspartame for use as a sweetener in food.
In 2007, a study by the European Ramazzini Foundation (ERF) suggested that aspartame can cause cancer in rats at levels close to the human Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI). EFSA reviewed this study and released an updated scientific opinion in March 2009. EFSA concluded that on the basis of all the evidence currently available, including the published ERF study, that aspartame did not produce cancer. Furthermore, EFSA concluded that there is no reason to revise the previously established ADI for aspartame (the ADI is the amount of an intense sweetener a human can be exposed to on a daily basis over an extended period of time, usually a lifetime, without appreciable health risk). FSANZ’s assessment of the ERF study agreed with the EFSA conclusions.
More recently, two new studies have been released [1] the first by Soffritti et al., (2010) from the ERF which shows that life expectancy in mice remains unchanged following a life-time of daily exposure to aspartame. The report also claims that the incidence of some cancer types at death is slightly increased among mice consuming aspartame. The second is an epidemiological study by Halldorsson et al., (2010) which examines an association between the consumption of sugar-sweetened and artificially-sweetened soft drinks and the risk of pre-term delivery in Danish pregnant women.
EFSA have evaluated these new studies. In a statement on 28 February 2011 , EFSA concluded that these two recent publications did not give reason to reconsider previous safety assessments of aspartame or of other sweeteners currently authorised in the European Union.
[1] Soffritti M.et al., Aspartame administered in feed, beginning prenatally through life span, induces cancers of the liver and lung in male Swiss mice. Am. J. Ind. Med. 2010, 53, 1197-1206.
Halldorsson T.I.et al., Intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks and risk of preterm delivery: a prospective cohort study in 59,334 Danish pregnant women. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2010, 92: 626-33,