Drinking only one diet soda a day is able to increase the chances of developing leukemia in both women and men. In addition, men have higher risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma too. These claims were confirmed by a recent study focused on aspartame as an ingredient which is carcinogen for humans.
What is good to know is that this study was the most complete, longest and most professional of this kind so far which means that it is quite more relevant than the studies conducted before which showed that aspartame is not a great threat to our health. On top of that, the findings suggest that further studies may detect the connection between this ingredient and other types of cancer.
This is The most Comprehensive Study Focused on Aspartame – Thousands of People Monitored for Years
In order to conduct this scientific study, scientists have analyzed information from the Health Study of Nurses and the study that followed conducted by Health Professionals. The information was obtained over a period of more than 20 years. About 47.000 men and 77.000 women were part of this analysis.
Besides the huge size, another thing that makes this scientific study more relevant than the studies conducted in the past is the details provided on aspartame intake and its effects. People who were part of this study had to answer a diet-related questionnaire every second year and their dietary habits and patterns were reevaluated every 4 years.
The studies conducted in the past were unable to find any connection between cancer and aspartame intake, but they were evaluating the intake of aspartame only when the study was conducted which is probably the reason why their results were inconclusive.
Consumption of only one diet soda on a daily basis increases the chances of developing non-Hodgkin lymphomas, multiple myeloma and leukemia
The final results of this comprehensive study have suggested that taking only one 355 ml/12 oz diet soda a day results in:
- About 100% higher risk of developing multiple myeloma (only in men)
- About 40% higher risk of developing leukemia in both women and men
- About 30% higher risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma (only in men)
The results were obtained by taking all other risk factors into consideration and com.pared to people with similar eating habits who don’t consume diet soda. Scientists are still puzzled why just men drinking more diet soda are at risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
It is also worth mentioning that diet soda is the product that contains the highest amount of aspartame on the US market. More than 5.200 tons of aspartame is consumed in the United States every year and more than 85% of it is part of diet sodas.
Verification of The Results of Research Focused on Animals from The Past
So, the latest study has once again confirmed that only thorough analysis can provide relevant results. In the past, scientific studies were unable to find any connection between cancer and aspartame, but they were very short in both number of participants and time.
In other words, they didn’t take long-term effects of consumption of aspartame. With the help of this study, we can get a clearer picture. The conclusion that there is a link between aspartame and cancer was not a great surprise for many experts because there is another study which involved animals or rats to be more precise conducted ten years ago that has revealed shockingly similar findings.
Namely, aspartame led to higher risk of leukemia and lymphoma development in both male and female rats. In addition, this study revealed some disturbing results about pregnant rats – they suggested negative effects to the fetus. In addition to the increased risk of the aforementioned diseases the female rats that were pregnant were also at high risk of developing breast cancer too.
So, the next studies involving aspartame should be more focused on specific types of cancer like prostate, breast and brain cancer.
Now that we have such a precise and detailed study about the effects of aspartame, it is the right time to get rid of this ingredient from our diet.
Individuals who are really fond of sugary sodas which they believe is a healthy replacement should know that the study found that men drinking one or several sodas sweetened with sugar had about 65% higher risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The conclusion is that there is no best soda, just stay away from it.