Artificial sugar is either natural substances or artificial substances with the opposite calorie content of sugar but much sweeter. That’s why only a small amount is needed to sweeten, for example, a soft drink without increasing the number of calories.
In 1996, the American neurologist John Olney made the statement that the sweetener aspartame was carcinogenic. His argument was that since aspartame was approved in 1981, brain cancer had been on the rise.
This caused a lot of discussion, but almost all studies have since shown that aspartame is not carcinogenic , and in more than 100 countries, health authorities allow this sweetener in food products.
However, many researchers agree that the long-term effects on health have not yet been sufficiently clarified.
Daily thresholds exist
Based on a large number of studies, the world’s two largest health organizations, the EFSA in the EU and the FDA in the United States, have assessed aspartame as harmless within reference limits.
The guidelines are also called “acceptable daily intake” and are set by toxicologists. In the EU, the limit is set at 40 mg per kg of body weight.
Thus, a person weighing 70 kg may consume a maximum of 2,800 mg of aspartame per day.
The sweeteners are still under investigation
On 13 May 2019, the European Food Safety Authority EFSA announced that it intends to collect a range of information on different sweeteners.
The purpose of the information collection is to re-evaluate the sweeteners that were approved for use in food before January 20, 2009.
The end date of this information collection has been repeatedly postponed.
