Can Artificial Sweetners Cause Cancer?

Artificial Sweetners are food items used in the place of table sugar. They are sweeter and less in calories when compared to ordinary sugar. Inspite of these benefits, artificial sweeteners are considered to be unsafe by many. Though the United States Food and Drug Administration allows the usage of these sweetners, it is a fact that research done on these food items are notoriously inconsistent and link them to cancer. This article tries to gain further insight.

The sweetners approved by the government are saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame potassium and stavia.

Knowledge Gained from Research about each of these Sweetners: Studies about understanding the harmful effects of artificial sweetners started when it was found that there can be a possible nexus between cyclamate sweetners and bladder cancer in particular. But till date no such association is firmly established in human beings.

About Saccharin: Studies on this sweetner started in 1970s. Laboratory experiments conducted on male rats with this sweetner proved that it may cause bladder cancer in rats. When further studies were carried out in humans in the later years, no such evidences were found. So, in the year 2000, this sweetner was delisted from the cancer causing subtances.

About Aspartame: It got approved by the government for the first time in the year 1981. When its status was reviewed in 1996, it was doubted that this sweetner was responsible for increase in brain tumors between 1975 to 1992 in United States. Again in the year 2005, laboratory research cliamed of establishing link between this sweetner and blood cancer. But the links never got clearly established.

About Cyclamate: It faced ban in the year 1969 by the FDA. Later studies proved the substance to be not responsible for spreading cancer. It is still in news as there are petitions filed gainst it in FDA. However, these cases are not taken up actively anymore.

Sucralose, Neotame, Acesulfame potassium are the sweetners which got clean chit from the government of not being cancer causing agents in recent times. More than 100 safty studies were carried on each of these sweetners and their role in cancer was closely monitored before they were allowed to be sold in the market.

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