July 1, 2025
Fourth of July Food Picks
A guide to celebrating the Fourth of July with festive, feel-good foods made from real ingredients; no dyes, additives, or sketchy chemicals required.
Aspartame
Artificial Sweeteners
- Potentially Harmful
Definition
Artificial sweetener made of aspartic acid and phenylalanine. It is 200 times sweeter than sugar and widely used in packaged foods, particularly "diet" drinks, gums, and foods.
Also Known As
Nutrasweet, Equal, Aminosweet, Amino Sweet
Health Impact
Aspartame can harm the gut and negatively impact gluten tolerance and metabolism. It has been shown to cause cancer in studies done on mice and linked to risk of lymphoma and leukemia in men and women. The WHO has classified aspartame as a potential carcinogen, and said that it may cause liver cancer. Consumption is also linked to increased risk of heart disease. Aspartame has carcinogenic potential, may alter cell viability, alter brain antioxidant status, and can promote hyperglycemia. It has been shown to cause headaches in some people.
Sources
- Artificial sweeteners and cancer risk: Results from the NutriNet-Santé population-based cohort study
PLOS Medicine
- Aspartame—True or False? Narrative Review of Safety Analysis of General Use in Products
Pub Med
- Chemical Cuisine - Safety of food additives
Center for Science in the Public Interest
- Aspartame administered in feed, beginning prenatally through life span, induces cancers of the liver and lung in male Swiss mice
Pub Med
- Identification of aspartame-induced haematopoietic and lymphoid tumours in rats after lifetime treatment
Pub Med
- Consumption of artificial sweetener– and sugar-containing soda and risk of lymphoma and leukemia in men and women
Center for Science in the Public Interest
- Artificial sweeteners and risk of cardiovascular diseases: results from the prospective NutriNet-Santé cohort
The British Medical Journal
