Aspartame is linked to leukemia and lymphoma in new landmark study on humans

Aspartame is linked to leukemia and lymphoma in new landmark study on humans


(NaturalNews) As few as one diet soda daily may increase the risk for
leukemia in men and women, and for multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin
lymphoma in men, according to new results from the longest-ever running
study on aspartame as a carcinogen in humans. Importantly, this is the
most comprehensive, long-term study ever completed on this topic, so it
holds more weight than other past studies which appeared to show no
risk. And disturbingly, it may also open the door for further similar
findings on other cancers in future studies.


The most thorough study yet on aspartame - Over two million person-years

For
this study, researchers prospectively 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
sheer size, what makes this study superior to other past studies is the
thoroughness with which aspartame intake was assessed. 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.

One diet soda a day increases leukemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphomas

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.

Confirmation of previous high quality research on animals

This
new study shows the importance of the quality of research. Most of the
past 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 new study
solves both of those issues. The fact that it also shows a positive
link to cancer should come as no surprise, because a previous
best-in-class research study done on animals (900 rats over their entire
natural lifetimes) showed strikingly similar results back in 2006:
aspartame significantly increased the risk for lymphomas and leukemia
in both males and females. More worrying is the follow on mega-study,
which started aspartame exposure of the rats at the fetal stage.
Increased lymphoma and leukemia risks were confirmed, and this time the
female rats also showed significantly increased breast (mammary) cancer
rates. This raises a critical question: will future, high-quality
studies uncover links to the other cancers in which aspartame has been
implicated (brain, breast, prostate, etc.)?

There is now more
reason than ever to completely avoid aspartame in our daily diet. For
those who are tempted to go back to sugary sodas as a "healthy"
alternative, this study had a surprise finding: men consuming one or
more sugar-sweetened sodas daily saw a 66 percent increase in
non-Hodgkin lymphoma (even worse than for diet soda). Perhaps the
healthiest soda is no soda at all.


Source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/037772_aspartame_leukemia_lymphoma.html