Having your cake and eating it too is one of those puzzling sayings that have confused six-year-olds for decades. What's the point of having cake, after all, unless you eat it?
The role of artificial sweeteners is just as confusing. The goal is to develop foods (and drinks) that taste sweet but don't have the calories of sugar. In theory, consuming such low-calorie beverages and treats should help us lose weight.
Artificial sweeteners have been controversial for decades. The oldest, saccharin, was under a cloud at various points during the 20th century. Rodent studies had linked it to bladder cancer and for years products containing saccharin carried a warning. The cautionary label was lifted in 2000, after studies in primates did not confirm this cancer risk.
The latest dustup revolves around aspartame, a sweetener found in soft drinks, chewing gum and thousands of other products. Studies carried out in Italy on rodents have raised questions about the long-term safety of this sweetener (Environmental Health Perspectives, March, 2006).
Unlike the research on saccharin that involved huge doses equivalent to hundreds of cans of diet soda daily, the Italian rodents received a range of doses of aspartame, including some comparable to human exposure.
These studies also differed from the research done prior to the approval of aspartame because the rats were allowed to live out their natural lives. That's why the higher number of cancers in exposed animals is somewhat troubling (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, Dec., 2010).
For the most part, research in people hasn't shown a serious problem with aspartame. Some doctors who treat people with headaches published case reports or even crossover trials indicating that certain individuals are sensitive to this sweetener (Neurology, Oct. 1994).
All this is old news, but a recent report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (online Oct. 24, 2012) has re-ignited the aspartame controversy. The Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study both include thousands of people queried regularly about diet and other habits over decades. The Harvard scientists who run these studies noted the Italian rat results and analyzed their data to see if they would also show an association between aspartame and cancer.
The data from approximately 77,000 women (nurses) and 48,000 men (doctors, dentists, pharmacists, etc.) led the authors to conclude: "In the most comprehensive long-term epidemiologic study, to our knowledge, to evaluate the association between aspartame intake and cancer risk in humans, we observed a positive association between diet soda and total aspartame intake and risks of NHL [non-Hodgkin lymphoma] and multiple myeloma in men and leukemia in both men and women."
The investigators admitted that they could not rule out chance as the basis of this association. Nevertheless, their finding should probably not be ignored. Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, is chair of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health and one of the co-authors. He told NPR, "I do think this finding is strong enough to justify further study on aspartame and cancer risk." That could take years. Until then, consumers should keep in mind that the long-term safety of aspartame remains controversial.
Should you want to learn more about this complicated subject, tune in to our radio show this coming Saturday on your local NPR station or subscribe to our podcast (you can subscribe by looking in the upper right hand corner of our home page under "SUBSCRIPTIONS" and clicking on the Free Podcast icon. Here is what you will hear during the show:
1) An in-dept interview with Morando Soffritti, MD, Scientific Director of the European Foundation for Oncology and Environmental Sciences and Scientific Director of the Ramazzini Institute. He will explain the animal research and why it may have relevance to human health.
2) Susan Swithers, PhD, Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue, and a member of the Ingestive Behavior Research Center. She will explain how artificial sweeteners may affect the body's ability to assess caloric intake.
3) Hannah Gardener, Sc.D., is an epidemiologist in the Miller School's Department of Neurology at the University of Miami. She will discuss the link between diet soda consumption and health outcomes.
You may wish to put the show on your calendar or email us for a reminder so you can access the free podcast one week from today.
Source: http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2012/11/04/controversy-swirls-around-sweeteners/
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