You may have heard that the World Health Organization just issued a report labeling the sweetener aspartame a "possible carcinogen." But don't dump your diet soda down the drain just yet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration disagrees with the WHO's assessment. It released a statement saying, "'Possibly carcinogenic to humans’ does not mean that aspartame is actually linked to cancer.”
The WHO even acknowledges that the link between aspartame and a common form of liver cancer is based on "limited evidence" derived from three studies on humans. The FDA says those studies have significant shortcomings.
And even if that link were real, the WHO has set a safety limit of 40 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight. That means a 150-pound person would have to drink around a dozen cans of diet soda a day to be at risk. (Today, Huffington Post)