The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) -the body of the WHO in charge of evaluating the carcinogenic potential of substances- and the joint FAO/WHO expert committee on food additives (JECFA) will expose tomorrow his conclusions on the safety of the consumption of aspartame (one of the sweeteners most used by the food industry) and its potential carcinogenic effect.
Aspartame is a synthetic sweetener some 200 times sweeter than sugar, which does not provide calories or cause tooth decay, and which is usually labeled as an E 951 additive. It is estimated that it is present in more than 6,000 products and consumed by more than 200 millions of people around the world because it is the second most used sweetener by the industry after saccharin.
Today, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) authorizes as safe a level of aspartame consumption in the diet of a person of 40 mg/kg of weight per day.
But what products contain aspartame? Basically those drinks and foods low in calories or without sugar. Below is a list of those in which it is most common to find it, although they may differ depending on the brand and manufacturer, so it is a matter of checking if E 591 appears on the ingredients label.
