What you need to know about this “false sugar” with a controversy taste

Several organizations including the NGO Foodwatch and the Cancer League launched Tuesday, February 4, in eleven European countries, a petition to request the ban on aspartame. This controversial sweetener is used in more than 6,000 products according to Foodwatch and could be dangerous for health.
Almost 200 times more sweetener than traditional sugar, aspartame is often found in sodas and “without sugar” yogurts as well as in a number of confectionery and drugs. Since its marketing in the 1970s, Aspartame and its producers have been the subject of many controversies.
► Discovered by a happy coincidence
Aspartame is a completely artificial substance. Unlike other sweeteners such as sucrose, which is extracted from sugar cane or sugar beets, aspartame is produced in the laboratory. It could also have not existed very well since his discovery is the result of chance.
In 1965, when he developed a medication against ulcer, a chemist of the Searle society licks his finger to grab a leaf and discovered, to his surprise, a sweet taste. After analyzes, it turns out that this product is 200 times sweeter than sugar, and much cheaper to produce. A boon.
► False sugar but very real doubts
From its first marketing in 1974, in the United States, aspartame was the subject of many suspicions. The product is initially approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), the American body in charge of ensuring food safety. Quickly, however, it turns out that the studies carried out by the Searle laboratory were not reliable enough and did not make it possible to appreciate the toxicity of the product at its fair value.
Aspartame is then withdrawn from the market. After several counter-expertise, he was again authorized for sale in 1981 in the United States. The product landed in France in 1988. The controversies of the beginning are however not forgotten and this “false sugar” will long suffer from a bad reputation.
► A star of the era of “light”
The great interest of aspartame for consumers, and for producers, is to make certain products less calorie. Aspartame has roughly the same energy value as sugar but as it is 200 times sweeter, it takes much less to give taste.
This faculty is all the more interesting since in the 1980s, lightened or “light” products became an increasingly highlighted marketing argument. Aspartames are always found in dairy products, sodas, confectionery and a number of drugs, sometimes hidden in the composition under the name E951.
► A product “perhaps carcinogenic”
While the debate has been raging for decades, in July 2023, the International Center for Research on Cancer (CIRC) ranks aspartame in the list of products “ maybe carcinogenic ». In March 2022, an INSERM study indicated that artificial sweeteners “Could represent an increased risk factor in cancer » .
Conversely, during an assessment in 2013, the European Food Security Authority (EFSA) had reassured a reassuring judgment. She had estimated that there was no “ scientific evidence “Saying” that aspartame damages the genes and induces cancer ». A new European evaluation is currently underway and will be based on more recent data.