In the news

It’s a big headline with no real impact but people have gone loopy over it.

My mum called me yesterday to tell me to stop drinking Coke because it causes cancer. She also told me that she read that you shouldn’t buy pre cut watermelons because she had read that it can harbour bacteria and you’ll need bowel surgery because of someone she had heard of on the news.

The safe level:

JECFA concluded that the data evaluated indicated no sufficient reason to change the previously established acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 0–40 mg/kg body weight for aspartame. The committee therefore reaffirmed that it is safe for a person to consume within this limit per day. For example, with a can of diet soft drink containing 200 or 300 mg of aspartame, an adult weighing 70kg would need to consume more than 9–14 cans per day to exceed the acceptable daily intake, assuming no other intake from other food. sources.

That’s 3l - 4.5l.

Other notable things on the 2A cancer risk list:
Red meat
Hot beverages above 65 degrees.

Edit: aspartame is in the 2B category, which is less risk than the above.

Hot beverages about 65 degrees.

made me spit out my tea!

Yeah but how many watermelons can I safely eat?

The upper safe limit is 17 cans a day for a man and the evidence is weak

We're still talking beer here, right?

Tough on fans of hot beverages who live in Stavanger.

Other fun things in group 2B:

Magnetic fields (so we’re all fucked)
Radio frequency electromagnetic fields
Titanium dioxide in Sun screen
Picked vegetables (kimchi etc)
Aloe Vera
Putting talcum powder on your gooch

A whole watermelon would exceed your daily allowance of potassium.

So about 9kg of watermelon per day?

What if you do all those things at once?

Love me some Kimchi while slathering on sun screen next to my big electromagnet, it's quite warm so glad I talc'd the ol nethers and this after sun is nice and soothing.

All those IT lessons Jennifer Acuri gave Johnson have clearly gone to waste.

#rep

Search for which of the fizzy drinks use stevia instead.

Iirc Fanta does.

The WHO announce aspartame could cause cancer.

You couldn't really make this shit up, could you?

Fanta: Sweeteners (Acesulfame K, Sucralose)
Fanta Zero: Sweeteners (Acesulfame K, Aspartame)

This remains the one:
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/belvoir-fruit-farms-natural-blackcurrant-cordial-750ml

The ginger one with some hot water is better than any lemsip

Watched this doco the other week which has a piece on Aspartame ....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001mp67/panorama-ultraprocessed-food-a-recipe-for-ill-health

I have never trusted 'low fat' or 'sugar free' as they still need to get the endorphin inducing flavours in there somehow.

Just have the full fat everything and pedal faster no?

ooh! good tip, thank you

Yes, they’re all fucking rank!

Stevia, acesulfame K, sucralose, aspartame… can instantly taste when they’ve poisoned a previously-palatable fizzy pop indulgence with them. Ruined Irn Bru, Purdey’s, even some wanky hipster kombuchas & that.

It's the same mistake that has been made with trans fat or diesel. Just trying to solve a single issue and then cause a lot of negative fall out later on. Sweeteners are probably OK when they were just
an option but now it's in everything.

Glad to hear there are still people with taste buds.

The WHO announce aspartame could cause cancer.

hope I die before I get old

I think Bundaberg's ginger beer has suffered the same fate.

Yes, they’re all fucking rank!

Stevia, acesulfame K, sucralose, aspartame… can instantly taste when they’ve poisoned a previously-palatable fizzy pop indulgence with them. Ruined Irn Bru, Purdey’s, even some wanky hipster kombuchas & that

So drinking zero sugar drinks not only tastes rank, but also gives you cancer. Bonus!

When we were in hospital having kid number two I spent two nights sleeping on a karrimat on the floor of the maternity ward and was understandbly quite tired. When I ventured down to the hopsital shop for some refereshment I found every single drink was sugar-free for 'health reasons'. All I wanted was a sweet sweet sugar hit. Had to wander off site to get anything decent.

What's the best sugar substitute

Zoë nutrition podcast

Jesus christ, the comments in here. It's like the Daily fucking Mail.

Aspartame is in the third tier (of four) of possible carcinogenic substances, along with 323 others. Clearly more research is necessary, but I think the press release that the BBC and others picked up that they based this story on was probably written by a PR agency employed by the sugar industry.