People with a daily consumption of sweeteners would have a higher risk of developing cancer.
Sweeteners (aspartame, saccharin, Acesulfame-K, sucralose, etc.) are regularly consumed by millions of people. As a reminder, these are food additives used to sweeten dishes. Replacing traditional sugar, these reduce the added sugar content and reduce the number of calories associated with it. A new study has just a link between sweetener consumption and the risk of developing cancer.
A link between the consumption of sweeteners and the risk of cancer
Conducted by researchers from Inserm, Inrae, Cnam and Paris-Sorbonne University, this new study published in the review Plos Medecine results from the analysis of the health data and the consumption of sweeteners of 102,865 French men and women participating in the study NutriNet-Health from 2009 to 2021.
In addition to information on medical history, level of physical activity, lifestyle or general health, participants cited names and brands of products they consumed. Exposure to food additives, including sweeteners, could thus be measured using these data. The researchers then carried out statistical analyzes in order to study the associations between the consumption of sweeteners and the risk of cancer.
Charlotte Debras, a doctoral student and first author of the study, said via a statement from Inserm: “ This large-scale prospective study suggests, in agreement with several experimental in vivo and in vitro studies, that artificial sweeteners, used in many foods and beverages in France and around the world, could represent an increased risk factor for cancer. ».
In detail, the results of the study show that the biggest consumers of sweeteners had a 13% higher risk of developing cancerin particular consumers of aspartame and acesulfame K. Inserm specifies in particular that the latter have a greater risk of developing breast cancer or cancers linked to obesity.
Dr. Mathilde Touvier, Director of Research at Inserm and coordinator of the study, concludes in particular that ” these results do not support the use of sweeteners as safe alternatives to sugar and provide new information to address controversies over their potential adverse health effects ».