I’m a dentist. This is why people should NOT stop eating artificial sweeteners

A dentist is sounding the alarm over misinformation surrounding the health risks of artificial sweeteners, warning they are still ‘unclear’ and people shouldn’t rush to ditch the fake sugars. 

Her warning comes after panic and controversy arose earlier this year when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared aspartame, one type of artificial sweetener, a possible carcinogenic, or something that can cause cancer.

The WHO’s conclusion came after a major safety review from its subsidiary body, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). However, experts say the link between artificial sweeteners and cancer is very still weak.  

Dr Melissa Weintraub, a dentist in Providence, Rhode Island, told StatNews: ‘It’s clear that while aspartame’s link to cancer is unproven, the significant benefits of maintaining good oral health are worth chewing over.’

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener first developed in the 1960s and is approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar. Because it is so much sweeter, less is needed over natural sugar to achieve the same taste, meaning products that contain Aspartame may have fewer overall calories. 

Aspartame is found in an array of diet sodas, like Diet Coke and Sprite Zero, as well as some sugar-free gums and yogurts. It’s estimated that about 5,000 foods in the US contain it. 

Dr Weintraub believes the WHO’s ruling on artificial sweeteners could make people think aspartame is proven to cause cancer, which could stoke a flurry of misinformation.

Dr Melissa Weintraub, a dentist in Providence, Rhode Island, said the links between aspartame and cancer are still unclear

‘It becomes even more difficult in light of the fact that IARC’s aspartame assessment does not consider risk or the likelihood of harm — merely hazard, which is only the potential for harm,’ she told STAT News. 

A study published last year in BMJ of 100,000 adults in France suggests consuming large amounts of artificial sweeteners was linked to a slightly higher risk of cancer and heart disease. 

Another study from 2020 in the journal Acta Histochemica found an increased incidence of leukemia and lymphoma in mice that consumed aspartame. However, the doses were almost four times the weight of the mice, making the reference point for human risk unclear.  

In a push back to the WHO’s announcement, Dr Weintraub pointed to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) statement last month that denounced the health organization’s findings. 

‘For the [FDA], there is no debate about aspartame, one of the most common sugar substitutes in food items like dentist-preferred diet soda and some sugar-free gum,’ she said. 

The agency’s statement read: ‘The FDA disagrees with the conclusion that these studies support classifying aspartame as a possible carcinogen to humans.

‘FDA scientists reviewed the scientific information included in the review in 2021 when it was first made available and identified significant shortcomings in the studies on which [the conclusion] relied.

‘We note that the Joint WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives did not raise safety concerns for aspartame under current levels of use and did not change the acceptable daily intake.’

While aspartame has drawn the ire of the WHO, there are many other types of artificial sweeteners, including saccharin, sucralose, stevia, and monk fruit.

While there may not be a consensus on the health effects of artificial sweeteners, the risks of consuming too much of any kind of sugar have been well established.

Sugar has been consistently linked to several chronic health problems, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, depression, and cancer.

‘Dentists hold sugar in a kind of awe-struck horror,’ Dr Weintraub said.

‘Sugar consumption feeds mouth bacteria, which produce as a by-product a form of acid that erodes tooth enamel. If left unchecked, this leads to dental cavities and oral disease.’

‘This is true even of healthier, more natural forms of sugar, such as the fructose found in fruit.’

Artificial sweeteners, however, can curb sugar cravings and keep you from consuming larger amounts of sugary, high-calorie foods.  

Dr Weintraub points specifically to the benefits of sugar-free gum, which uses artificial sweeteners like aspartame.

‘By stimulating the production of saliva through chewing, gum helps us to readjust the chemical balance of the mouth by producing minerals like calcium and phosphates,’ she said.

‘This “remineralization” process reverses damage caused by cavity-making acids, and reduces plaque levels.’

One 2019 study, for example, found that people who regularly chewed sugar-free gum developed 28 percent fewer cavities than those who didn’t.

‘My professional concern for oral health makes opting for non-nutritive sweeteners over sugar obvious.’