Aspartame Study Finds Increased Risk of Breast, Obesity-Related Cancer

An ongoing NutriNet-Sante cohort study initiated in 2009 analyzed the diet of 102,865 individuals and found that people who consumed high amounts of aspartame were associated with a 22% higher risk of developing breast cancer and 15% higher risk of developing obesity-related cancers.

The cohort study published last week was one of the largest of its kind and one of the first to recognize that high rates of aspartame consumption may be associated with an increased risk of cancer.

Aspartame comprised 58% of the artificial sweeteners consumed by study participants, and all but five respondents consumed less than the government-recommended allowable daily intake (15 mg/kg body weight/day) of the substance.

Through quality-controlled online surveys, adult study participants shared their dietary habits, health status, anthropometric data, and physical activity. Analysis of health records and habits showed that people who consumed aspartame at higher-than-median levels had increased hazard ratios for several types of cancer. When controlling for other variables, aspartame intake was most significantly associated with increased breast and obesity-related cancer risks.

Researchers found that those who consumed high amounts of aspartame (higher than median consumption) tended to be women, younger, smokers, less physically active, more educated, and more likely to have prevalent diabetes.

The French experiment relied on participant-provided dietary data collected every 6 months by three non-consecutive daily nutritional records, randomly assigned over 15 days. The average number of records per participant was 5.6 throughout the entire study. Researchers included that the study is limited because of the self-reported nature of the data, the chance of reverse causality, and possible selection bias of the survey population.

Aspartame is one of the primary sugar substitutes used in food and drink, and it has been scrutinized in hundreds of scientific studies since its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 1981. The FDA maintains that the sweetener is safe for consumption, and the European Food Safety Authority also does not find an increased risk of cancers associated with aspartame consumption.

Previous epidemiological studies investigating aspartame and cancer have been unable to link consumption to an increased risk of cancer in humans; however, some research has shown that aspartame intake increased rodent cancer rates.

Other studies have linked aspartame and artificial sweeteners to poor health outcomes. These include some findings that associate artificial sweeteners with weight gain, behavioral health issues, depression, and insulin resistance. Furthermore, some researchers believe that aspartame may influence gastrointestinal health and gut microbiota, resulting in other problems in the body.

Regardless of the recent French study, annual rates of new cancers in the United States have steadily decreased from 481 per 100,000 in 1999 to 435 per 100,000 in 2018, even as yearly aspartame revenues increase steadily. Similarly, breast cancer rates have dropped from 135 per 100,000 to 127 per 100,000 during the same period. It is also expected that aspartame and total artificial sweetener use will continue to rise as many food and beverage companies prioritize lower calorie foods in the future.