July 13 (Reuters) - Aspartame, a popular artificial
sweetener found in Diet Coke, chewing gum, yoghurt and other
food products, is a "possible carcinogen" but it remains safe to
consume at the existing daily intake guidelines, according to
new rulings from two different World Health Organization-linked
groups. 

WHAT IS ASPARTAME?
Discovered in 1965 by American chemist James Schlatter,
aspartame is about 200 times sweeter than regular table sugar.
It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1974
for use as a tabletop sweetener and as an additive in chewing
gum, breakfast cereals and dry bases for foods. 
    
WHAT ARE THE NEW RULINGS, AND WHO MADE THEM? 
One group of experts, the International Agency for Research on
Cancer (IARC), said aspartame is a "possible carcinogen". That
means there is limited evidence showing a potential cancer link
and puts it in the same classification group as aloe vera
extract and some Asian pickled vegetables. 
    Another expert panel, the WHO/FAO Joint Committee on Food
Additives (JECFA), also reviewed aspartame and maintained its
advice that it remains safe to consume within current
recommended daily limits. For aspartame, this limit is 40
milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight per day. 
    That means an adult weighing 70 kg (approximately 150
pounds) would need to consume between 9 and 14 cans of diet soft
drink in one day to surpass the limit. 
    
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?     
There has been some confusion around the rulings, but the
agencies say they are "complementary". The two groups work
differently, and have a different aim: while IARC flags a
potential hazard based on even limited evidence, JECFA assesses
the real-life risk. 
Gunter Kuhnle, professor of nutrition at the United Kingdom's
University of Reading, said it highlighted the difference
between hazard and risk. 
"Sunlight is a hazard as it can cause cancer, but the risk
depends on the amount of sunlight and whether we use
protection. Likewise, even if aspartame causes cancer at very
high amounts, there is no risk when consuming it at the amounts
that are permitted in foods," he said. 
    
WHY IS ASPARTAME POPULAR?
Because aspartame is very sweet, much less is needed in products
to create the same taste as sugar, so it has a calorific value
of almost zero. It also does not have the bitter aftertaste of
saccharin, another sweetener. Aspartame grew in popularity as a
more diet-conscious consumer emerged in the 1980s. 
 
WHAT PRODUCTS CONTAIN ASPARTAME?
The low-calorie sugar substitute can be found in soft drinks,
gelatin, confectionery, desserts, and sugar-free cough drops. It
is also used to enhance flavoring of baked and canned foods,
powdered drink mixes, candy and puddings.

Here is a list of popular items that contain aspartame: 
 Product                               Parent Company
 Diet Coke                             Coca-Cola (KO.N)
 Extra sugarfree chewing gum           Mars
 Jell-O sugarfree gelatin dessert mix  Kraft Heinz (KHC.O)
 Snapple zero sugar tea and juice      Keurig Dr Pepper
 drinks                                (KDP.O)
 Sugar Twin 2 sweetener packets        B&G Foods (BGS.N)
 Equal Zero Calorie Sweeteners         Whole Earth Brands
                                       (FREE.O)
 Trident sugar-free peppermint gums    Mondelez International
                                       (MDLZ.O)/Perfetti Van
                                       Melle
 
HAVE COMPANIES MOVED AWAY FROM ASPARTAME?
Aspartame's use in food products has been debated for decades
and has also prompted some companies to remove the compound from
their products. 
PepsiCo removed aspartame from Diet Pepsi in 2015 but
brought it back a year later. It remains an ingredient in Diet
Pepsi.
General Mills' Yoplait also removed aspartame from its
yoghurts in 2014. The brand's low-sugar products now contain
alternative sweeteners like sucralose.
 
WHAT OTHER ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS ARE IN USE?
Saccharin, sucralose and neotame are among the artificial
sweeteners for which JECFA has recommendations.
The FDA has also authorized three types of plant- and
fruit-based sweeteners, including extracts obtained from the
stevia plant, swingle fruit extracts and a group of proteins
called Thaumatin.
 
IS ASPARTAME USED WORLDWIDE?
More than 90 countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain,
France, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Australia and New Zealand have
reviewed aspartame and found it to be safe for human consumption
and allow its use.
 
Source: WHO, IARC, JECFA, company websites, FDA, EFSA, National
Library of Medicine

 (Reporting by Elissa Welle in New York and Savyata Mishra and
Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Caroline Humer and
Catherine Evans)