New Delhi: A day after the cancer research arm of the World Health Organization (WHO) announce its decision to classify the artificial sweetener aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic”, a new survey, the results of which were made public Saturday, has revealed that 38 percent of Indians surveyed in urban areas consume artificial sweeteners every month.
The study by LocalCircles, a community-based social media platform, was an attempt to gauge the number of urban Indians who consume artificial sweetener and in what form.
The survey received over 23,000 responses from consumers across 295 districts of India, 66 percent of whom were men and 34 percent women. Moreover, 42 percent of respondents were from tier-1, 34 percent from tier-2 and 24 percent from tier-3, 4 and rural districts.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, announced earlier this week that it had classified aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic” based on limited evidence for liver cancer in studies on people and rodents.
Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar and is used in more than 6,000 products worldwide, including diet drinks, chewing gum, toothpaste and chewable vitamins, said the report published Friday in the journal Nature.
According to media reports, in India, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, (FSSAI) has approved six artificial sweeteners — saccharin sodium, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, neotame, and isomaltulose — for consumption.
Also Read: Artificial sweeteners don’t aid weight loss, may increase diabetes, heart disease risk, says WHO
Findings of the new survey
The survey first looked into how many Indians consumed food containing artificial sweeteners every month, to find that of the 11,342 respondents, or 38 percent, answered the question in the affirmative.
When the respondents were asked what kind of food products (containing these artificial sweeteners) were they consuming, of the 4,310 people who responded, most indicated their choice of more than one product. According to the study, one in three Indians consumed diet soda or chewing gum every month.
The results showed that diet soda drinks and sugar-free gums were the most popular choices of products with artificial sweeteners, with 32 percent respondents saying they consumed each. Other products in this category included energy drinks (26 percent), sugar-free chocolates (18 percent) and sugar-free ice creams (18 percent).
The survey also asked respondents if food brands should be made to display the use of artificial sweeteners on the front of the pack. For the query, which received 11, 719 responses, 90 percent said yes, six percent said it was “not needed” and the remaining gave no clear response.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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