Mind that Diet Coke! WHO's cancer research arm to declare Aspartame, a carcinogenic. Should you panic?

From a bar of chocolate to a can of seemingly healthier Diet soda, food giants have been piggy riding on the catchphrase "sugar free." The food industry and regulators are in for a rough spin July onwards. Reuters reports that Aspartame, one of the world's most common and also popular artificial sweetener, is set to be declared "possibly carcinogenic to humans" next month by WHO'S cancer research agency IARC.

International Agency for Research on Cancer will for the first time put out such a listing against Aspartame. The IARC ruling, reportedly, was finalised earlier this month following a meeting of the group's external experts, whose decision comes after a thorough assessment of all the published evidence.

What it does not say?

While the ruling does mention aspartame to be possibly cancer causing for humans, however it does not state or take into account how much of a product can be safely consumed by an individual. The quantity of safe limit for consumption is recommended by a separate WHO expert committee on food additives, called JECFA (the Joint WHO and Food and Agriculture Organisation's Expert Committee on Food Additives).

Reportedly, JECFA will also be reviewing aspartame use this year. JECFA is also scheduled to announce Its findings on July 14, which is the same day as IARC makes public its decision on aspartame.

However, JECFA's latest stance on aspartame is in contrast to its past statements. Since 1981, JECFA has said aspartame is safe to consume within acceptable daily limits. IARC spokesperson was quoted as saying that findings by both IARC and JECFA were confidential until July. He also said the findings were "complementary."

How much is too much of aspartame

According to the FDA, the acceptable daily intake of aspartame is 50 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day. The European regulatory body recommends a slightly lower intake as acceptable, at 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day. While widely accepted and allowed in over 90 countries, several controversies and legislations have contested the safety of aspartame ever since it was first approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration. In 2007, the government of Indonesia considered banning the artificial sweetener.

Diet Coke, one of the flagship products of Coca-Cola, contains aspartame. It is also found in several candy and confectionary items, including gelatine, cakes, powdered drink mixes and canned foods. Aspartame can also be found in sugar-free cough syrups and cough lozenges.

Time to declare war against artificial sweeteners?

Aspartame is not the only artificial sweetener to have come under the scanner of regulatory agencies. A recent study conducted a team in North Carolina State University discovered yet another artificial sweetener, sucralose to be harmful and irreversibly damaging. The study discovered sucralose can produce a chemical during digestion that is genotoxic, that is damaging to the genes and DNA.