An upcoming major decision from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the use of aspartame could potentially pose challenges for leading food and beverage companies. One of the biggest companies impacted could be Coca-Cola KO, which has been selling beverages since 1886.
What Happened: Ingredient aspartame is used in diet beverages and low-sugar beverages and foods as a substitute sweetener. The key ingredient has been controversial in the past, and a new ruling has put aspartame back in the public spotlight.
According to reports from The Independent and Reuters, the WHO's cancer research unit is expected to categorize aspartame as a potential carcinogen in an imminent announcement.
Aspartame has fewer calories than sugar and is around 200 times sweeter, making it a commonly used ingredient in diet and low-calorie beverages.
The report said the WHO would not list rulings on amounts of aspartame.
Aspartame was previously ruled safe to consume by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), as long as daily limits were followed.
The new ruling would likely see the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is a subsidiary of the WHO, list aspartame as a potential cancer cause and a 2B ruling. The 2B ruling would indicate that aspartame is “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”
The Daily Mail reports that this classification would put aspartame in the same category of cancer risk as certain coloring additives and Aloe vera, situating it amid substances with potential carcinogenic properties.
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Why It’s Important: Aspartame, a key ingredient in many products, has been the subject of health risk studies for years. This new ruling, the most significant in recent times, could compel companies that currently use aspartame to alter their recipes or include warnings on their products.
Among the key products that contain aspartame are diet soda, chewing gum, gelatin, ice cream, breakfast cereal, medications, cough drops and gummy vitamins, according to Livestrong.
Among the name-brand products that contain aspartame are Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, Sprite, Fanta, Diet Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, Coke Zero, Pepsi Max, Powerade, Red Bull Sugar Free, Mentos Gum, Extra Sugar Free Gum and Orbit Sugar Free Gum.
The ruling could have a big impact on the beverage industry and manufacturers like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo PEP and Keurig Dr. Pepper Inc KDP.
Six of the 10 bestselling beverages contain aspartame (UK versions of Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Fanta):
- #3 Diet Coke
- #4 Dr. Pepper
- #6 Sprite
- #7 Diet Pepsi
- #8 Coke Zero
- #9 Fanta
- #10 Diet Mountain Dew
Beverage companies could battle the ruling, and it would likely be up to individual countries to issue laws on ingredient and warning labeling for packaging.
The publicity of aspartame being linked to cancers could cause a sales decline for several of the top-selling beverages, and also open the opportunity for beverages and products that don’t contain aspartame to get a leg up on the competition.
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