Controversial sweetener aspartame found in fizzy drinks and diet products 'does NOT cause harm', report declares

SEAN POULTER
20 March 2015
THE DAILY MAIL
Aspartame, the controversial sweetener linked to a range of health problems, does not cause harm.
A study commissioned by Britain’s food watchdog found eating the sweetener had no impact on the body or behaviour of people who claimed to be sensitive to it.
The artificial sweetener, used in fizzy drinks and diet products, has been at the centre of critical reports dating back decades linking it to everything from cancer to premature birth.
Despite this, it has been ruled a safe food ingredient by food watchdogs in Britain, the EU, the USA and around the world.
Aspartame, used in fizzy drinks and diet products, has been at the centre of critical reports dating back decades linking it to everything from cancer to premature birth. But a new report has declared it to be safe
Aspartame, used in fizzy drinks and diet products, has been at the centre of critical reports dating back decades linking it to everything from cancer to premature birth. But a new report has declared it to be safe
These assurances have failed to convince many people, who continue to report adverse reactions, such as headaches and nausea after consuming foods containing the sweetener.
As a result, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) commissioned experts from Hull York Medical School to examine people who reported just such problems to establish if their fears were backed up by medical evidence.
The trial involved 48 people who self-reported as being sensitive to aspartame and another 48 control participants who have never had any problem.
All received two specially prepared cereal bars, one of which contained aspartame, on two separate sessions at least one week apart.
The human guinea pigs were put through a series of biological and psychological tests, which included taking blood and urine samples.
Participants rated a range of 14 symptoms over four hours after eating the bars, including headache, mood swings, hot or flushed sensation, nausea, tiredness, dizziness, nasal congestion, visual problems, tingling, bloating, hunger and thirst.
Participants were also asked to rate levels of happiness and arousal, which are the two main dimensions of their mood.
Today, the FSA said: ‘The study concluded that the participants who were self-diagnosed as sensitive to aspartame showed no difference in their response after consuming a cereal bar, whether it contained aspartame or not.’
The experts who carried out the research suggested those people who were self-reported aspartame sensitive (SRAS) tended to be more emotional.
WHAT IS ASPARTAME AND WHERE IS IT FOUND?
Aspartame has established itself as an important component in many low-calorie, sugar-free foods and beverages and is primarily responsible for the growth over the last two decades in the sugar-free market.
It is currently consumed by over 200 million people around the world and is found in more than 6,000 products.
These include carbonated soft drinks, powdered soft drinks, chewing gum, dessert mixes, puddings and fillings, frozen desserts, yogurt, tabletop sweeteners, and some pharmaceuticals such as vitamins and sugar-free cough drops.
Aspartame is a nutritive sweetener made by joining two amino acids (protein components) — L-phenylalanine and L-aspartic acid, with a third component called a methyl ester group.
Very little is needed for a sweet taste, making aspartame virtually non-caloric.
Their research findings state: ‘SRAS participants felt under more stress and had more difficulty thinking about and reporting their feelings, although these were not statistically significant.’
It adds: ‘There was considerable variability in symptom rating but there were no systematic changes over time of the kind expected in the response to a psychoactive agent, and there was no tendency for the different bars to be rated differently.
‘Sensitive participants tended to rate more symptoms after both aspartame and control bars. Additionally, sensitive participants tended to rate more symptoms during the first test session, whichever bar they had received.
‘This applied to headache, nausea, dizziness, nasal congestion, tingling, thirst, and bloating. This suggests that given as a single dose, aspartame has no effect that can be measured.’
The team found no physical changes in the body, blood and urine caused by aspartame.
They concluded: ‘There was no evidence of any acute adverse response to aspartame.
‘This independent study gives reassurance to both regulatory bodies and the public that acute ingestion of aspartame does not have any detectable short-term psychological or metabolic effects in humans.’
However, the team stressed that the study has not examined the effects of long-term consumption of aspartame. Consequently, critics may still require convincing that it is safe.
The FSA’s scientific director, Guy Poppy, explained the decision to commission the study, saying: ‘While the best available evidence shows that aspartame can be consumed safely, a number of individuals have reported adverse reactions after consuming food and drink containing aspartame.
‘Given this anecdotal evidence it was appropriate to see if more could be found out about these reported effects.
‘The Hull/York study was not designed to evaluate the overall safety of aspartame as it is already an approved additive.’
The research has been evaluated by independent experts, peer reviewed and published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Despite today’s assurances, critics maintain there are still safety fears over the sweetener. They cite an EU- funded project which found that pregnant women who consumed fizzy drinks containing artificial sweeteners were more likely to have a premature baby
In December 2013, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published an opinion on aspartame following a full risk assessment and concluded it was ‘safe for human consumption at current levels of exposure’.
This was supported by Britain’s Committee on Toxicity which said the sweetener was safe and there was no need for action, such as taking it off the shelves, to protect public health.
Erik Millstone, Professor of Science Policy at the University of Sussex, insists there is good quality independent research which raises safety concerns.
An EU funded project published in 2010 found pregnant women who down cans of fizzy drink containing artificial sweeteners appear to be at greater risk of having a premature baby.
It is rare for a mother to be to give birth early – before 37 weeks – assuming all aspects of the pregnancy have been normal.
The research found this low risk was increased by 38 per cent if the woman was drinking an average of one can of diet drink a day.
The statistics, gathered by academics in Denmark, showed that a woman who routinely drank at least four cans a day could increase the risk by as much as 78 per cent.
This meant that if the risk of a premature birth was normally one in a 100, it increased to 1.78 in 100.
The professor also highlighted work by the independent Ramazzini Foundation in Italy, which has published research suggesting aspartame caused several types of cancer in rats at doses very close to the current acceptable daily intake for humans.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3002760/Controversial-sweetener-aspartame-fizzy-drinks-diet-products-does-NOT-cause-harm-report-declares.html#ixzz3UsDcvEhG