If aspartame sweetener is declared a possible cancer risk by WHO, should we return to sugar, use honey, or just retrain our taste buds?
- The World Health Organization may declare the artificial sweetener aspartame carcinogenic – bad news for those who love sweet things but don’t want sugar
- Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar, and used in such small amounts that, surely, drinking a diet soda is not hazardous?
Aspartame has been used for years as a sweetener in fizzy drinks, chewing gum and foods such as yogurt. The chemical is about 200 times sweeter than sugar, so a tiny amount goes a long way.
Aspartame’s low calorie count made it a better option for weight control and warding off heart disease. But now, given the potential dangers, should we reconsider? Could sugar actually be less harmful? Personally, I doubt it.
Sugar is rightly the villain in health and wellness circles. However, I never liked the taste of aspartame, so I don’t touch diet sodas. I am also naturally sceptical of anything artificial and this absolutely fits the bill. Warnings about its harmful effects have been around since it was approved for consumption in 1981.
02:44
Popular diet sweetener Aspartame may be causing cancer: WHO
I would rather gulp a Coke or Pepsi with the regular tooth-rotting, artery-clogging, toxic high-fructose syrup than drink something with aspartame’s unnatural taste.
If I must choose between the two, sugar is the devil I know.
I also suspect the risks of aspartame are probably overstated. Each can of soda contains so little aspartame, you would have to literally consume barrels of it each day for it to really harm your health, as far as I can see.
My guess is the danger of overdosing on aspartame is probably the same as using an old plastic box too often in the microwave or your brain frying from radiation from mobile phone use.
Hazards are inevitable in our Frankenstein food products. The constant demand for gastronomic convenience and shortcuts leads to some downsides.
By instinct, we like sweet-tasting things, but companies also condition us to crave overly sugary products. Freshly squeezed orange juice is watery compared to concentrated. Good dark chocolate is far less sweet than the bars we ate as kids.
It’s time to retrain our taste buds – to ask for less syrup in our lemon tea and put fewer sugar packets in our coffee. A lot of folks still can’t resist soft drinks, whether it’s the diet version or the classic formula.
There have always been other options. Honey is natural, delicious and arguably even good for you. Of course, get the real stuff made by bees and not the cheap maltose honey Hongkongers spread on their barbecued meats.
Pure maple syrup is also unbeatable, containing minerals, nutrients and antioxidants. It is also expensive, which is why bars and restaurants never offer it on the side.
In the end, if you still really enjoy a cold carbonated soda on a hot day, just go ahead. If cancer is so easily caused by drinking too much Diet Coke, Donald Trump would be dead already.
