The synthetic sweetener aspartame (E 951) – classified as a ‘probable carcinogen’ in July 2023 by IARC (International Agency for the Research on Cancer, WHO) and reported as a source of different health risks-it is still widespread in chewing gum and sugar-free energy drinks, as well as ‘diet‘ drinks. Some examples, including market leaders and discounters.
1) Diet Coke, Pepsi DietCole and low-cost soft drinks from discount stores.
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo persist in using aspartame in ‘diet‘ and/or ‘sugar-free’ versions, after having obtained from the JECFA committee (FAO-WHO) confirmation of the acceptable daily intake of aspartame established in 1981 (40 mg/kg body weight), a few weeks after the alert issued by IARC, the WHO agency for cancer research. (1)
U.S. Right to Know explains the contradiction between the IARC and JEFCA assessments by noting the ties of some of the latter committee’s experts to Coca-Cola and ILSI, the ‘scientific’ arm of Big Soda and Big Food. If this assumption is confirmed-and there is no shortage of suspicions, as noted (2)-JEFCA’s conclusions would be vitiated by conflict of interest.
LIDL and Eurospin( Italiandiscount store ) in turn offer low-cost cola-flavored, sugar-free drinks with aspartame:
– Freeway cola zero, LIDL brand,
– Blues Cola zero, Eurospin.
2) Energy drinks, Red Bull and discount stores
Sugar-free energy drinks with aspartame in turn are produced under the brands of the market leader and discounters:
– Red Bull sugar free,
– LIDL, Kong Strong energy,
– Eurospin, Energy drink with taurine.
Retail in Italy, on the other hand, has already eliminated aspartame from its own brand soft drinks and energy drinks(private labels).
3) Chewing gum, sugar-free with aspartame
Sugar-free chewing gums with aspartame are crowding the market. Perfetti-van Melle-one of three global giants-is the clear sales leader in Italy with a number of chewing gum brands:
– Vigorsol,
– Vivident,
– Mentos,
– Daygum,
– Brooklyn,
– Happydent.
All ‘sugar-free’ chewing gums of the above-mentioned Perfetti van Melle brands still contain aspartame. LIDL and Eurospin, also in this product category, offer sugar-free references with aspartame.
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3.1) Perfetti van Melle, the ‘100% xylitol’ deception.
Perfetti van Melle also slips on an exemplary deception that in the U.S. would have already prompted a multimillion-dollar class action lawsuit. ‘Vivident 100% xylitol’ gum-despite the promise contained in the product name itself-is not sweetened exclusively with xylitol.
‘Vivident ‘100% xylitol’ by Perfetti van Melle in fact, according to the ingredients list, contain 99.4% (64% in the previous formula still reported on some e-commerce sites) xylitol, but also aspartame (0.6%) and acesulfame k (0.03%).
Consumers who purchase these chewing gum relying solely on the presence of the bulk sweetener xylitol, which is generally considered safe-though with some concerns for microbiota health (Jodi et al., 2020. See Section 4.7 below)-they thus find themselves forced despite themselves to take the aforementioned intensive sweeteners as well.
Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) Marta Strinati. Aspartame is a possible carcinogen, according to IARC. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 30.6.23
(2) Marta Strinati. Aspartame, the shadow of Coca-Cola and Big Soda on WHO’s additives committee opinion. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 21.8.23
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
