ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS LINKED TO HIGHER CANCER RISKS!
HEAVY consumption of artificial sweeteners may increase the risk of developing cancer, according to a recent study.
French researchers collected self-reported diet, lifestyle and medical history information from more than 100,000 volunteers from 2009 to 2021. Based on the harvested data, the scientists say the sweeteners aspartame and acesulfame potassium — which are both found in diet sodas — were linked to elevated odds of developing the deadly disease.
Mathilde Touvier, research director at France’s Institute of Health and Medical Research and the study’s supervisor, says folks who ingested “beyond the median amount” of the sugar substitutes “had an increased cancer risk of 13 percent.”
According to the team, commercially processed soft drinks accounted for more than half of the artificial sweeteners in people’s diets, with the remaining 29 percent coming from tabletop usage.
The scientists note “higher risks were observed for breast cancer and obesity-related cancers.”
However, Touvier admits the study was merely observational and cautions more research is needed to potentially confirm its results.
She adds, “We cannot totally exclude biases linked to the lifestyle of consumers.”
Dr. Michael Jones, who was
not involved in the project, points out the study “does not imply causation” and was “not proof that artificial sweeteners cause cancer.”
Jones, a senior staff researcher at London’s Institute of Cancer Research, says the team’s findings could simply suggest “cancer risk may be raised in the type of person who uses artificial sweetener rather than the sweetener itself.”