The World Health Organization’s International Research Agency on Cancer announced Thursday that the artificial sweetener aspartame, commonly found in Diet Coke and other sugar-free foods, is a possible carcinogen.
However, a second WHO group, the Expert Committee on Food Additives, did not change its threshold for the daily amount of aspartame that is safe to consume: 40 milligrams for adults who weigh about 154 pounds — the amount in around 14 cans of Diet Coke. The Food and Drug Administration has a slightly higher limit of 50 milligrams per day for an adult who weighs about 132 pounds.
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“It’s a slight warning to people, but it’s not ‘do not consume,’” Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, said of the WHO decision. “Consume moderate levels and you’re OK.”
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