Sunday, May 07, 2006

Aspartame cleared - again

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Sweetener 'not linked to cancer'

The Europeans have decided that an earlier study that raised a question about the safety of aspartame (as found in diet drinks) was flawed. (I had posted about the previous study before.)

So how much Diet Coke (or Pepsi Max) can you drink and be OK?:

"On the basis of the evidence," said Dr Pratt, "there is no reason to revise the previously established Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) or to undertake any further revisions of the safety of aspartame."

The ADI is the level of additive considered to be safe if consumed every day over a lifetime without risk to health.

For aspartame, the ADI is set by the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) at 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.

An adult would have to drink about 14 cans a day of diet soft drink, or consume about 80 sachets of sweetener to reach this amount.

Drink up.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Glad to see that the aspartame issue is finally getting some actual information interjected into it - better than all the media scares! I didn't know the part about having to drink 14 cans daily to be concerned...I'm a pretty regular soda drinker but that amount is unfathomable. Think I'm pretty safe!