Scientists from the University of Washington found that consumption of low-calorie sweeteners does not increase the risk of dying from cancer. The research was published in the journal nutrients.
The authors analyzed data collected in various rounds of the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) between 1988–1994 and 1999–2018. Approximately 16,000 American adults took part in the first cycle and approximately 50,000 adults in the second cycle.
The analysis showed that aspartame or saccharin supplementation did not increase the risk of death from cancer in adults regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, current smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity level, and BMI.
Also, frequent consumption of saccharin has been associated with a lower risk of death from cancer. In general, it was found that cancer deaths increased with age and smoking and decreased with increasing physical activity.
Researchers looked at the risk of dying from cancer in general, but did not take into account the specific type of cancer. In addition, food intake data was based on a survey of participants who were asked to recall the foods they ate in the past 24 hours. This technique cannot provide reliable information about the total diet of the participants.
Previous studies have shown that low-calorie sweeteners may increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome by increasing the response to sweet tastes, impairing satiety, or altering the composition of the gut microbiota.