If You Drink Alcohol, Don’t Worry About Aspartame
The real toxin you should be worried about.
WARNING: This is my jam.
I love busting out common myths and mainstream topics that get people riled up.
One of the most common misconceptions in the health and nutrition industry is the risks of consuming artificial sweeteners aka Aspartame, Splenda, Sweet’n Low, and yes even you’re so-called “natural” Stevia.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization (WHO), recently declared aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic” and people are freaking out. If you like your Diet Coke, you’re probably wondering if you should quit for good. Not only does Diet Coke contain the often-scrutinized artificial sweetener, but also other low-calorie or sugar-free options such as syrups or sparkling drinks. They could be found in many food items now. Does this mean you should run and never purchase these items? No, it does not because newsflash, artificial sweeteners are not bad for you. Like with everything else, including water, the dose makes the poison.
The FDA stated that aspartame is actually not linked to cancer and that there is limited evidence to support that aspartame is carcinogenic in humans. As a food additive, Aspartame has been studied extensively and does not impose any safety concerns when consumed under the approved conditions.
Let’s take Diet Coke for example since it is the most popular artificially sweetened drink out there. If you weigh 70kg (155 lbs), you need to drink at least 14 cans of Diet Coke to even BEGIN to have any negative effects from consuming artificial sweeteners, according to the previously established ADI (acceptable daily intake).
To give you more insight, the ADI is the acceptable daily intake that is safe to have over a lifetime. The ADI is determined by considering the no-observed-adverse-effect-level (the highest intake level found to have no adverse effects in lifetime studies in animal models, divided by 100). The fact that the ADI is 100 times lower than the upper level that is found to have no adverse effects in toxicology studies, makes this intake very conservative and safe. In other words, you have nothing to worry about when you’re drinking your Diet Coke or pouring a Splenda or two into your coffee.
As said before, you need to consume an unrealistic amount of artificial sweeteners for it to make a negative impact on your health.
Do You Know What’s Actually Carcinogenic?
Do you like drinking alcohol but you fear artificial sweeteners? Well, I got more news for you. You’re not really saving yourself from any negative health effects because you’re drinking an actual carcinogen when you thought it was the artificial sweetener being the devil.
The WHO even states there is no safe amount of alcohol consumption that doesn’t affect your health and has classified alcohol as an actual toxin and Group 1 carcinogen.
“…the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage.”
So if you were afraid of the news declaring Aspartame as a carcinogen but you’re still going out with friends for drinks, it’s time to re-evaluate and gain more insight and most importantly, get more educated on the facts rather than jumping to conclusions.
Does this mean you shouldn’t drink? That’s a nuanced topic and very individual-based. But for the purpose of this article, no it does not mean you can’t drink alcohol so if you choose to, understand that alcohol is a real toxin so there’s no need to spread any fearmongering about artificial sweeteners being toxic.
As I said earlier, this is my jam. If you want to read more about artificial sweeteners with studies referenced, feel free to check out my article on the controversial topic here. I also mention the benefits of consuming artificial sweeteners because yes there are benefits to having them.
