Buffalo, NY (WBEN) The World Health Organization has recently declared aspartame, found in diet soft drinks, a possible carcinogen, however one expert tells WBEN there's no cause to sound the alarm just yet.
Dr. Kirsten Moysich of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center says possible human carcinogen is the WHO's weakest classification. She says it might be a very weak cancer causing agent. "But when you put it in perspective, processed meat consumption, or processed meat is considered carcinogenic to humans. And that is a much much stronger classification. So we know that processed meat consumption is related to developing cancer, but most of us still eat, salami or bacon. And do not worry about that," explains Moysich. She says she doesn't think there's any concern for the public to be worried about consuming sugar free gum or diet pop.
Moysich notes the WHO doesn't quantify the risk and there are other regulatory organizations that kind of assess the safety of artificial sweeteners. "This is completely hypothetical that is being determined in epidemiological studies and the current evidence from the epidemiological studies that have looked at diet cola consumption or diet beverage consumption in cancer risk is completely inconclusive," notes Moysich.
Moysich says right now there's really no evidence to suggest that individuals who consume more beverages with artificial sweeteners are a greater risk of any cancer.
