Artificial sweeteners are supposed to be safer alternatives to sugar—but they increase the risk of breast cancer, new research has discovered.
They raise the chances of breast cancer and cancers associated with obesity—including colon, uterine and gallbladder—by as much as 25 percent.
Not surprisingly, the risk was greatest in those consuming the largest amounts of the sweeteners, especially aspartame and acesulfame-K, say researchers at Inserm (National Institute for Health and Medical Research) in France.
They tracked more than 102,000 adults for their use of sweeteners and the number of cancer cases, and even after allowing for all the other factors that could account for the cancers, the researchers said there was a definite link.
The researchers say that sweeteners are not safe alternatives in food or drinks, and food agencies around the world need to consider other options.
(Source: PLOS Medicine, 2022; doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003950)
