Is Your Favorite Diet Soda Linked To Cancer?

Louisiana loves their diet sodas just as much as the next guy.

For years people have debated if diet coke is better or worse than a regular coke and it seems like no one can reach a verdict on this debate and everyone holds a different opinion and preference.

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So What's the Deal with Diet Soda?

The International Agency for Research on Cancer shared their findings on why diet sodas in particular get such a bad wrap. It's because of a very controversial artificial sweetener called aspartame.

You can find it in a variety of foods and beverages and in many cases its labeled as: NutraSweet, Equal, Sucralose, and Acesulfame Potassium.

Aspartame is significantly sweeter than regular sugar and does not spike glucose levels which makes it a 'safe' sugar alternative for diabetics or people who are trying to watch their sugar intake in general.

While aspartame is regulated by the FDA there have been some major concerns raised over the years since our consumption of this artificial sweetener has increased drastically. While it causing cancer is the main concern there is also evidence that it can cause weight gain and increased sugar cravings.

Is Aspartame Linked to Cancer?

IARC's job is to determine if there is a possibility of something causing cancer not to determine how likely it is that someone would develop cancer from consuming the item or ingredient.

In this case IARC has determined that aspartame is "possibly carcinogenic to humans" and could cause liver cancer.

How Much Aspartame is 'Too Much'?

To put it into perspective, someone who weighs 132 pounds would need to consume 75 packets of equal or 8 cans of diet soda daily to reach what the FDA recommends as the average daily intake limit.

With that being said there is a call from the Director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety for WHO for more studies to be done.

The assessments of aspartame have indicated that, while safety is not a major concern at the doses which are commonly used, potential effects have been described that need to be investigated by more and better studies