The toxicological evaluation of aspartame made by Efsa in 2013 failed to consider some scientific studies showing it to be dangerous, the synthetic sweetener should be withdrawn from the market. This is the conclusion reached in the study by Erik Paul Millstone and Elisabeth Dawson, of the University of Sussex (Brighton, UK), just published in Archives of Public Health. (1)
Toxic aspartame, the British study
The researchers analyzed the modus operandi of the EFSA Food Additives and Flavourings (ANS) panel. Where, in 2013, the discussed sweetener was considered to pose no health risk to the population at the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 40 mg per kg body weight. This threshold, according to experts from the European Food Safety Authority, would be lower than the average exposure levels of the population.
However, the food safety risk assessment made by Efsa, according to the University of Sussex researchers, would be fundamentally flawed by a serious asymmetry in considering the 154 aspartame toxicity studies. British scholars determined that Efsa accepted as reliable 62 of 81 studies attesting to the sweetener’s non-hazardousness. Deducing instead the unreliability of all 73 studies bearing evidence of toxicity of the molecule.
In the view of the British scientists, the ANS panel allegedly followed uneven criteria in assessing the scientific merit of the different studies. Taking a very rigorous approach to studies critical of the synthetic sweetener and a conversely lenient approach to studies favorable to aspartame.
Aspartame, food safety concerns
Aspartame is one of the most controversial food additives. Nevertheless, it is still widely used in products presented as ‘sugar-free’,
light
and low-calorie. Baked goods, beverages, dietary supplements, candy and chewing gum, as well as alternative sweetener preparations to sucrose.
As early as 1973, when aspartame was first applied for approval with the U.S.Food and Drug Administration (FDA), objections emerged from independent scientists. In fact, the synthetic sweetener had, in their view, been shown to cause mental retardation, brain injury, and neuroendocrine disorders.
The inventor of aspartame-the U.S. pharmaceutical company GD Searle-had its way. Business as usual, Profit over People (PoP). Despite numerous botches in the execution of toxicological tests. This and any other information on the toxicological assessments and opaque licensing procedures of aspartame are reported in the rigorous English study, which is open to free reading.
Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) Erik Paul Millstone and Elisabeth Dawson,‘EFSA’s toxicological assessment of aspartame: was it even-handedly trying to identify possible unreliable positives and unreliable negatives?‘, Archives of Public Health, doi.org/10.1186/s13690-019-0355-z
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".
