[News Terms] IARC Carcinogen Classification: 'Aspartame'

'Aspartame' is a white, flour-like crystalline powder that is 200 times sweeter than sugar, allowing it to provide sufficient sweetness in very small amounts and is used as an artificial sweetener to replace sugar.

In 1965, chemist James Schlatter discovered aspartame while synthesizing various substances to develop a treatment for stomach ulcers. He noticed a very strong sweet taste on his finger after licking it to turn the pages of a paper.

Pepsi Zero Sugar Mango.
Photo by Asia Economy DB

In 1974, it was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but after numerous controversies over its safety, sales only began in 1979. In Korea, CheilJedang synthesized and produced it in the 1980s, and recently, with the 'zero calorie' trend, it has been widely used in sugar-free beverages and sugar-free candies. However, since it is a type of amino acid, it breaks down when heated and loses its sweetness, so it is not used in bread. Unlike sugar, mutans bacteria cannot break it down, so it does not cause cavities.

The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), under the World Health Organization (WHO), classified aspartame in 1981 as an additive that does not require a limit on daily intake. Since then, it has been widely used worldwide as a sweetener replacing sugar. At that time, the committee judged that consuming up to 40 mg of aspartame per kilogram of body weight per day was safe, meaning a 60 kg adult would have to drink more than 12 cans of diet cola daily to be at risk.

However, recent additional studies on the carcinogenic potential of aspartame have reignited safety debates. In March last year, researchers at Sorbonne Paris North University in France analyzed the food intake of over 102,000 adults and announced that artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and acesulfame potassium slightly increase the risk of cancer. PepsiCo, a leading American food and beverage company, stopped using aspartame in its carbonated drinks in 2015, resumed its use the following year, and again discontinued it in 2020.

On the 29th of last month (local time), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), under WHO, announced on the 14th of this month that it classified aspartame for the first time as a "substance possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B)," according to major foreign media. The related industry has strongly opposed this. Francis Hunt-Wood, Secretary-General of the International Sweeteners Association (ISA), criticized, "IARC is not a food safety agency, and IARC's evaluation of aspartame relies excessively on studies that are not scientifically comprehensive and lack credibility."