On June 29, Reuters reported that two insiders said that Aspartame, one of the most common artificial sweeteners, would be declared "possibly carcinogenic" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization in July. This topic also topped the hot search list. What is Aspartame? Sugar free cola and chewing gum have it. According to the Voice of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, some people may not have heard the name of Aspartame, but when it comes to saccharin, we are not unfamiliar. Like saccharin, Aspartame is a kind of artificial non nutritive sweetener. According to the level of calorie content, sweeteners can be divided into two categories: nutritional and non nutritional sweeteners. Non nutritive sweeteners refer to substances with a calorie content equivalent to 2% or less of sucrose's calorie content when their sweetness is equal to sucrose. In fact, many of the foods and drinks on the market labeled "sugar free" use sweeteners such as Aspartame. Faced with this news, food and beverage companies have given different responses. The relevant person in charge of Yuanqi Forest said to the reporter, "Yuanqi Forest Coke has zero sugar, zero fat, zero calorie and zero Aspartame, and the whole line of products does not contain Aspartame". The relevant person in charge of Coca Cola said that Coca Cola would not make a statement on this matter for the time being, but at the same time, the person in charge quoted a statement from the International Council of Beverage Associations (ICBA), which said that "ICBA is full of confidence in the safety of Aspartame". In terms of sugar free chewing gum, the product ingredient list provided by Xuanmai's official flagship store and Wrigley's flagship store customer service shows that Aspartame (containing Phenylalanine) is contained in the ingredients of Xuanmai's sugar free chewing gum and Wrigley's Yida chewing gum. As for whether Aspartame would be harmful, the above customer service staff said they would give feedback on this matter. Sugar free drinks When drinking water, a 30-year-old man loses control of his metabolism and suffers from diabetes, IARC classifies carcinogenic factors into five categories according to the probability of cancer: Category 1: confirmed carcinogenicity to humans Category 2A: probable carcinogenicity to humans Category 2B: probable carcinogenicity to humans Category 3: it is still uncertain whether it is carcinogenic to humans Category 4: basically no carcinogenic effect to humans IARC will list Aspartame as "Category 2B", that is, it may be carcinogenic to humans according to the information disclosed by the media. Not long ago, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) was also investigating the impact of Aspartame on human health. The agency held a meeting at the end of June and will announce its findings on July 14. It is worth noting that as early as May this year, the World Health Organization issued a new guide on non sugar sweeteners, suggesting that most people should avoid eating non sugar sweeteners such as acesulfame, Aspartame, saccharin, Sucralose and stevia. WHO Group