Eating artificial sweeteners may be linked to cancer risk

A large study on Thursday suggested that consuming artificial sweeteners may increase the risk of cancer, but experts not involved in the study said it was not enough to justify considering changing current health advice

Sweeteners are used by millions of people in products like diet sodas every day, in part to avoid sugar-induced weight gain — but it has been a matter of debate how healthy these alternatives are on their own.

To assess the cancer risk of sweeteners, the researchers analyzed data from more than 100,000 people in France who self-reported their diet, life>

They then compared alcohol consumption to cancer rates, while adjusting for other variables such as smoking, poor diet, age and physical activity

The participants who ate the most sweeteners "had an increased risk of cancer compared to those who didn't eat sweeteners," Mathilde Tourvier, research director at France's INSERM institute and director of the study, told AFP.

Use of the sweeteners aspartame and acesulfame potassium, in particular, increased cancer risk, according to the study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, both of which are used to include In many soft drinks including Coke Zero

Of the 103,000 participants, 79 percent were women and 37 percent consumed artificial sweeteners

Soft drinks accounted for more than half of artificial sweetener consumption, while tabletop sweeteners accounted for 29%

"There is a higher risk of breast cancer and obesity-related cancers," the study found

"We cannot completely rule out biases related to consumer life>

Both the National Cancer Institute and Cancer Research UK have said sweeteners do not cause cancer, and the European Food Safety Authority has approved their use

The link in the study "does not imply causation" and "does not prove that artificial sweeteners cause cancer," said Michael Jones of the Institute of Cancer Research in London

The findings, he said, could suggest that "people who use artificial sweeteners rather than the sweetener itself may have an increased risk of cancer

Thursday's findings also don't mean consumers should switch back to drinking sugar-sweetened beverages -- a 2019 Natlina Health study found sugar-sweetened beverages were also associated with a higher risk of several types of cancer

But it's important to note that not all sweeteners are created equal, and some like stevia have health benefits

Artificial sweeteners "may still be a useful tool to help reduce weight gain when substituting sugar - if the right sweetener is used"
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