If aspartame sweetener is declared a possible cancer risk by WHO, should we return to sugar, use honey, or just retrain our taste buds?
- The World Health Organization may declare the artificial sweetener aspartame carcinogenic – bad news for those who love sweet things but don’t want sugar
- Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar, and used in such small amounts that, surely, drinking a diet soda is not hazardous?
Aspartame has been used for years as a sweetener in fizzy drinks, chewing gum and foods such as yogurt. The chemical is about 200 times sweeter than sugar, so a tiny amount goes a long way.
Aspartame’s low calorie count made it a better option for weight control and warding off heart disease. But now, given the potential dangers, should we reconsider? Could sugar actually be less harmful? Personally, I doubt it.
Sugar is rightly the villain in health and wellness circles. However, I never liked the taste of aspartame, so I don’t touch diet sodas. I am also naturally sceptical of anything artificial and this absolutely fits the bill. Warnings about its harmful effects have been around since it was approved for consumption in 1981.
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Popular diet sweetener Aspartame may be causing cancer: WHO
I would rather gulp a Coke or Pepsi with the regular tooth-rotting, artery-clogging, toxic high-fructose syrup than drink something with aspartame’s unnatural taste.
If I must choose between the two, sugar is the devil I know.