Everything we know about 'cancerous' aspartame as popular products including Diet Coke affected

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Diet Coke fans could be in for a shock, as global health gurus plan to declare one of its key ingredients as 'cancerous to humans'.An artificial sweetener, called Aspartame, is commonly used in sugar-free drinks and products, like chewing gum, reports the Mirror.

The ingredient could be set to be classified as "possibly carcinogenic to humans", by the World Health Organisation (WHO).Aspartame has been used for generations in fizzy drinks, low-fat yoghurts, chewing gum and even ice cream.

WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) noted in a statement: "The IARC has assessed the potential carcinogenic effect of aspartame (hazard identification)."Following this, the joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (Jecfa) will update its risk assessment exercise on aspartame, including the reviewing of the acceptable daily intake and dietary exposure assessment for aspartame."According to the World Health Organisation, aspartame has "possible" links to cancer.This statement doesn't necessarily mean the sweetener directly causes the disease - but there is some evidence that links its consumption to people who have been diagnosed.WHO's IARC committee has two more serious categories:When looked at in context, there are more than 1,100 different items listed among these categories - from food and drink ingredients, to living conditions and dangerous activities.The committee previously - and rather controversially - placed working night shifts and eating red meat into the probably carcinogenic category.They also listed using mobile phones as possibly cancer-causing.

Professor Oliver Jones, an expert in chemistry at the RMIT University in Melbourne, noted that, "just because something may possibly cause cancer does