|
Scientific and General Safety Issues
¿ Since 1974 (when approval for aspartame was first sought), has additional research been done to determine aspartame’s effect on brain tumors? If not, why not?
In fact, there was an additional study done, and the results of this and the other animal studies have clearly confirmed no carcinogen effect of aspartame.
The results of the studies have been evaluated by experts at the FDA, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, and the Scientific Committee for Foods of the European Union. The conclusion is unanimous -- aspartame is not associated with brain tumors.
¿ How come every study on this issue has suspicious omissions or questionable procedural structures? Why don’t you conduct one good study to resolve all of the questions? Does that mean you’re afraid of the results you would find?
Many excellent studies of aspartame were conducted, confirming the safety of aspartame. Additionally, the Government Accounting Office, the government watchdog agency, reviewed the process by which aspartame was approved and said it met FDA requirements.
In effect, with the publication of Olney’s paper, more studies have been done. Leading epidemiologists have reviewed the paper, examined the same database used by Olney and dismissed his claims because of serious flaws.
Aspartame is one of the most thoroughly tested food ingredients in the world. Tests show repeatedly ... and without fail ... that aspartame is safe. Not only has the government reviewed the test results, it has reviewed the test procedures. Both aspartame and the test procedures passed with flying colors.
No single study will answer all questions -- That’s why we submitted more than 100 studies on aspartame’s effects. Not only did the FDA agree the studies were valid when it approved use of aspartame, but the Government Accounting office, the government watchdog agency, re-reviewed the test procedures and said they met FDA requirements.
The key studies that were conducted underwent exhaustive review by FDA and UAREP. Although minor errors were reported, the reviews established the data were authentic.
¿ Why do all of your studies:
-- use aspartame in capsules versus aspartame as it is normally consumed?
-- cover only a short period of time or exposure?
Using encapsulated aspartame is the desired testing method. Using capsules is the only way to ensure that the placebo is identical in appearance, taste, method of presentation, time of presentation, etc., as the aspartame. This is critical for double-blind, placebo-controlled studies -- the gold standard for such medical testing. Even if subjects think they can tell a difference between the test substance and the placebo, the study can be "contaminated" due to the powerful effect of psychology over physiology.
There are a number of studies that test long-term exposure ... For example, a University of Minnesota study in which people were given aspartame in amounts equal to that in almost 30 diet sodas a day for six months showed it was safe.
¿ Does aspartame cause cancer?
No, definitely not. Aspartame is a remarkably safe product. Scores of tests at enormous doses with various species of animals have proven that aspartame is safe -- both before and after aspartame’s approval by the FDA.
¿ How can you be sure that NutraSweet doesn’t cause cancer? Especially over the long term?
Lifetime tests of aspartame with animals show no increased
incidence of tumors of any kind.
A University of Minnesota study in which people were given aspartame in amounts
equal that in almost 30 diet sodas a day for six months showed it was safe.
Aspartame has been on the market for over 15 years and is enjoyed by over 100 million Americans -- and there is no association between trends in brain tumors incidence and aspartame.
Aspartame can’t cause cancer because during the digestive process it is broken down into three parts, all of which are also in things that we normally consume in everyday foods, such as skim milk, meat and bananas. Aspartame can’t cause cancer because the substance aspartame never enters the blood stream -- it does not travel through the body to essential organs.
¿ Is the question worth further study?
Without doubt the product is among the most tested and studied of any food additive of any kind. The question to which you refer, the issue of causing cancer, has long since been answered.
¿ Given the ongoing questions that have been raised about aspartame’s safety, why not just conduct additional scientific studies to settle these questions once and for all?
There aren’t ongoing questions; there is one scientist who has raised an hypothesis based on distorted data, omission of relevant facts and inaccurate statements.
Additional scientific work supporting NutraSweet has been done. Leading epidemiologists reviewing Dr. Olney’s paper have dismissed it as being seriously flawed.
Why test a theory that came up more than two decades ago and was shot down through solid, rigorous and repeated testing? We’ve already done those tests and 200 tests. We are confident that the extensive research conducted by experts around the world have established and affirmed the safety of aspartame time and time again.
There is no way aspartame or any product like it could do what the Olney paper alleges, because aspartame is thoroughly digested ... that is broken down ... in the digestive system and aspartame does not get into the blood system.
The hypothesis outlined in Dr. Olney’s position paper is based on a faulty interpretation of data. There is no way that aspartame could cause cancer. There is no need to test such an illegitimate hypothesis.
¿ How can you be so sure it does not cause brain cancer?
Repeated testing has shown no link to cancer of any kind.
¿ How come every study conducted by or funded by NutraSweet says it’s safe and every study conducted by an independent person says it’s unsafe? That’s an alarming correlation.
In fact, independent epidemiologists reviewing Dr. Olney’s
paper concluded it was seriously flawed.
The facts in your question are not true. We can speak only for the studies we fund. We
fund studies to ensure the safety of our product. We have done so for over 25 years and
those studies, many done by prominent investigators at preeminent universities, have shown
over and over that aspartame is safe.
Many regulatory scientists have reviewed the data and concluded that the studies on aspartame demonstrate its safety and thus the concerns raised by Dr. Olney are not valid.
Independent researchers at prestigious university medical centers around the world, including Harvard, the University of Heidelberg, Duke, Yale, and Northwestern, have studied aspartame. They design and conduct their studies and submit them to scientific peer review before they’re published. The results of their studies have continued to document the safety of aspartame.
It is important to understand that, although The NutraSweet Kelco Company has provided research funds to these scientists, the academic experts design the protocol; they conduct the study; they analyze the data to ensure statistical validity; they publish the results after they have survived scientific peer review. Thus, when scientists do good research, it is irrelevant who funds a study. Rather it is the design and conduct of the study that are important. That is why double-blind, placebo-controlled studies provide assurance of scientific objectivity.
|
