A large study recently showed a 13-percent higher increase in cancer risk for people who are regularly consuming artificial sweeteners.
As specified in a Mail Online report, experts from the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research and Sorbonne Paris Nord University, followed the health and diet of 100,000 individuals over eight years.
The highest risk was explicitly observed for sweeteners aspartame and acesulfame-K, both used in the United Kingdom in soft drinks such as Diet Coke and Coke Zero, and products such as yogurts and cheese. Large studies done previously on humans have shown no such link, and the UK experts claimed no causal association had been found.
ALSO READ: Excess Egg Consumption Increases Risk of Diabetes, Study Shows
The highest cancer risk was observed specifically for sweeteners aspartame and acesulfame-K, both used in the United Kingdom in soft drinks such as Diet Coke and Coke Zero, and products such as yogurts and cheese.
3 Cancer Occurrences for Every 100 People
If the finding is true, it will relate to roughly three more cancer incidences for every 10,000 people over eight years, one analysis of the findings specified.
Nonetheless, independent UK experts pointed out some limitations of the study and said they were still unconvinced, claiming it has not been proven or even suggested that people should go back to sugar and turn their backs on artificial sweeteners.
The French scientists looked at the diet and health records of over 102,800 French adults who were 42 years old on average. Seventy-five percent of the participants were women.
According to a similar Peacefmonline.com report, researchers compared to intake of artificial sweeteners to cancer diagnoses reported by the respondents up to January 2021. They found that around 37 percent of the respondents knowingly consumed artificial sweeteners at least once each day.
By the end of the research, more than 3,300 had been diagnosed with cancer, with their average age at the time their illness was detected being 59.5 years.
Artificial Sweeteners with 13-Percent Higher Risk of Cancer
Findings of the study suggested that those individuals consuming larger quantities of artificial sweeteners had a 13-percent higher risk of overall cancer compared to those who had none.
Moreover, findings were strongest for acesulfame-K and aspartame; both sweeteners approved in the UK. These artificial sweeteners are approximately 200 times sweeter than regular sugar.
Higher risks were observed for breast cancer with a 22-percent increased risk for aspartame and obesity-associated cancer; the researchers said a related report from The Sun said.
The study authors also said their findings do not back artificial sweeteners as safe substitutes for sugar in foods or beverages and offer essential and novel information to deal with the controversies about their possible negative effects.
Cancer-Causing Food Additives
While such results need to be duplicated in other large-scale groups and underlying mechanisms clarified by experimental research, they offer essential and novel understandings for the ongoing re-assessment of food additive sweeteners by European Food Safety Authority and other health agencies worldwide.
Senior staff scientist in genetics and epidemiologist Dr. Michael Jones at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, said the present consensus is that there is no clear evidence that artificial sweeteners cause cancer in humans, although the issue is often looked at.
The scientist also said the link between cancer and artificial sweeteners reported in this study does imply causation; it is no proof that these sweeteners are causing cancer.
He continued explaining that the types of people using artificial sweeteners may differ in many ways from those who do not, and such differences may partially or completely explain the link.
Related information about the effect of artificial sweeteners on health is shown on ABC Science's YouTube video below:
RELATED ARTICLE: Artificial Sweeteners vs. Sugar: Which is the Healthier Option?
Check out more news and information on Cancer in Science Times.
