Diet soda consumption increases risk for leukemia and lymphoma
02/12/2016 / By Tara Paras
According to the longest running study on aspartame as a carcinogen in humans, as few as one diet soda a day may increase the risk for leukemia in men and women, and for multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma in men.
The study’s researchers analyzed data from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study for a 22-year period. A total of 77,218 women and 47,810 men were included in the analysis, for a total of 2,278,396 person-years of data. Apart from the size of the test subjects, what makes this study notable is the thoroughness with which the subjects’ aspartame intake was assessed.
Natural News lets us in to the details of the study:
“Every two years, participants were given a detailed dietary questionnaire, and their diets were reassessed every four years. Previous studies which found no link to cancer only ever assessed participants’ aspartame intake at one point in time, which could be a major weakness affecting their accuracy. …
“The combined results of this new study showed that just one 12-fl oz. can (355 ml) of diet soda daily leads to:
“– 42 percent higher leukemia risk in men and women (pooled analysis)
“– 102 percent higher multiple myeloma risk (in men only)
“– 31 percent higher non-Hodgkin lymphoma risk (in men only)
“These results were based on multi-variable relative risk models, all in comparison to participants who drank no diet soda. It is unknown why only men drinking higher amounts of diet soda showed increased risk for multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Note that diet soda is the largest dietary source of aspartame (by far) in the U.S. Every year, Americans consume about 5,250 tons of aspartame in total, of which about 86 percent (4,500 tons) is found in diet sodas.”
Previous studies showing no link between aspartame and cancer have been criticized for being too short in duration and too inaccurate in assessing long-term aspartame intake. This study, however, solves both of those issues. Its results also confirm a previous study done on animals (900 rats over their entire natural lifetimes) which showed similar results: Aspartame significantly increased the risk for lymphomas and leukemia in both males and females.
Given these concrete, comprehensive studies, there is now more reason than ever to completely eliminate aspartame from our daily diet.
So, the question is — are you still going to order that soda?
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