The Results Are In With Dr. Sanjay Gupta | Aspartame

This is a guest post by WWSG exclusive thought leader, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Even if you’ve never heard of aspartame, it’s probably safe to say that at some point or another, you’ve consumed it. Commonly found in diet sodas, artificial sweeteners, cereals, chewing gum and even cough drops, it’s everywhere.

Aspartame was first OK’d by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1974, but now two World Health Organization committees are analyzing the potential link between aspartame and cancer.

There’s no need to panic and I’m not here to put a damper on anyone’s July 4th plans. So let’s talk about what this means for you.

Let’s start with the old adage that the dose makes the poison. Anything in a certain dose could potentially be poisonous or harmful. So how much aspartame is potentially harmful is the real question.

When the WHO groups release their reports on July 14th, it will come with a risk assessment and a new analysis of what’s considered to be an acceptable daily intake.

To give you an example of how WHO assesses risk, its cancer research agency currently categorizes cell phones as possibly carcinogenic. (We’ve established how much people still use those.)

When it comes to how much aspartame can be consumed, the US Food and Drug Administration currently has safety limits, not recommended doses. It says someone could safely consume 50 mg per kilogram of bodyweight. That’s the equivalent to 22 cans of diet soda for a 175-pound man.

I also know many of you are wondering whether artificial sweeteners are still better for us than sugar. Many doctors and nutrition experts say, like most things, this is OK in moderation – moderation being the key word.

But if you’re looking to use artificial sweeteners for weight loss, there’s no evidence that it has long-term benefits. In fact, WHO issued guidance to say you shouldn’t use sugar substitutes if you’re trying to lose weight.

So what should you do? It’s clear that most of us consume too much sugar, so that brings us back to moderation.

There are going to be the obvious sugary foods –  cake, cookies, soda. But then there is also a lot of stealth sugar. You’ll be surprised to find how many packaged foods sugar is added to –  things like bread, tomato sauce and salad dressings. So check those nutrition labels.

Even these small steps to reduce sugar can start to make a big difference over time. Think of it as training your tastebuds to crave sugar and sweeteners less.