Brussels, 09/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will take position at the end of February on the latest available scientific evidence showing potential risks to health from artificial sweeteners. It will do so via a declaration on two recent scientific publications, in response to a request for technical assistance from the European Commission, EFSA announced on Monday 7 February.
The first study was carried out by the Institut Ramazzini Soffritti et al. (2010) and investigates the carcinogenic potential of aspartame on mice (liver and lung cancer observed in male mice in Switzerland). The second publication is an epidemiological study into the link between consumption of non-alcoholic drinks sweetened with natural sugar or with synthetic sweeteners, and the risk of premature birth in Danish pregnant women (Halldorsson et al., 2010).
EFSA's scientific assessment, which will be guided by its scientific group on food additives and nutrient sources added to food (ANS group), will be carried out in close cooperation with the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES). It will help to clarify work underway at EFSA on artificial sweeteners.
At a preliminary discussion on the two documents (1 - 3 February), scientists from the ANS group spoke of additional scientific work which may be carried out. The scientific group noted that high rates of the type and incidence of tumours reported by Soffritti et al. (2010) spontaneously appeared in male mice. The group also observed that although statistically significant, the increased incidence of these tumours in mice which had been exposed to aspartame in their food was still within the historical control bracket for these tumours in these mice. EFSA will help the scientific group to carry out its analysis of the results and conclusions of the Ramazzini study, and will ask its authors to provide it with all of the data, so that it can re-examine them if needs be.
The ANS group also took account of the Danish epidemiological study, the results of which suggest that the daily consumption of non-alcoholic drinks containing synthetic sweeteners can lead to an increased risk of premature delivery. The scientific group stated that specialist knowledge would be required to provide additional elements of information regarding the methodology and statistical aspects of this study, including the implications of any confounding factors. In itself, the study cannot establish a causal relationship between taking artificial sweeteners and the risk of giving birth prematurely. As the authors of the study state, additional research (including experimental studies) will be required to confirm or invalidate these results. (A.N./transl.fl)