The WHO Says Diet Soda Causes Cancer. Does It?

The World Health organization recently added aspartame, an artificial sweetener used in diet soda and tea, to its list of possibly carcinogenic substances. But will diet soda really give you cancer? We look at the science behind the decision.

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[glenngriffon]

So basically, don't panic, you're fine. Unless of course you drink more than a gallon of diet soda daily, which if you do... you have bigger issues than the possibility that you might maybe be at risk of a chance to possibly develop cancer.

[imnashes]

I work at a movie theatre where I sells hundreds of soft drinks every day. The day the WHO announcement went viral diet coke went from 3rd most popular to the least and Coke Zero basically took its place it was so bizarre.

[dayglowjim]

I'm diabetic and the risk of dying from too much sugar is far higher than dying from artificial sweetener of any kind.

[SinisterMD]

As a physician I wish more video rebuttals like this were available to the general public. Bad studies that generate poor data which is interpreted inappropriately. That is then presented to the unsuspecting public as if it's a gold standard rule. Thank you for helping shed some light on this subject. Please keep them coming!!

[NoahSpurrier]

This is exactly the same thing that happened in the 80’s when there were warnings about saccharin. The rats were being given the equivalent of a human drinking a bathtub full of diet soda per day.

[JUMALATION]

My parents bombarded me with articles as soon as the WHO statement came out. I calculated and found out I would have to drink more than a gallon a day to be at risk. Luckily I keep my intake at three quarters of a gallon a day :D

[Fourside__]

yes lets focus on artificial sweeteners that MAY have some health impacts over decades of heavy over consumption instead of high fructose corn syrup in basically every other food you buy at the groceries store and the fact food additives need to be shown to be harmful instead of being shown to be not harmful like the EU does it. exactly how they'd like it to be

[tamberjune]

My chemistry teacher did a lesson on this 15 years ago.
People stopped hounding us and our diet cokes after every lunch period. 🎉

[DralhaEureka]

Science gets difficult when profit is involved. Both sugar and aspartame are produced by industries with powerful lobbies, so you definitely have to check out who funded each study.

[PaladinFeora]

Two things: I hope Hank is doing well! And thank you for this video, this is how I feel about this topic. Thank you for this.

[anangoohns]

As someone with diabetes on both sides of my family and a sugar intolerance that gives me nausea and GI irritation, I'm still picking diet when I reach for a pop. Thank you for helping "pick my poison" from an even more well-informed position.

[kid]

And this is why you always check your data to eliminate any sort of outliers, data errors and biases. Anything can be toxic if over consumed, even water can, but typically you have to consume said items in excessive amounts which the study showed, meaning that 9/10 times the foods we consume currently are perfectly safe to consume.

[jimsmith]

I remember in the 60's that there was another artificial sweetener called cyclamate. They banned that one after giving rats a dose that would be the equivalent of a human drinking 550 cans of soda pop every day. The more that things change, the more they stay the same.

[jamesalewis]

This is the same issue with using sassafras root in things like root beer. The lethal 50 dose was like consuming the extracts of 500 lbs of root within 30 days. The FDA is also susceptible to this error.

[colinmartin]

I'd be curious to see a comparative risk analysis between someone who frequently drinks soda vs someone who drinks diet soda. I don't like soda much in general but I'd wager the diet stuff is much better on balance than a 12oz can with 45g of sugar

[MikesTropicalTech]

As a heavy Diet Coke drinker for 40 years I was a little concerned when the news hit. Thanks for bringing all of the context for us. P.S. I had a liver MRI and ultrasound two years ago, squeaky clean.

[daltonbreeding]

Heads up- I was served an ad from “Safety of Aspartame” before this video, which a beverage industry-backed group. Another channel I follow had a similar issue and they were able to set some filters for what kinds of groups can run ads on their content. Thanks for making such great, science backed videos!!

[CaptainMarvelsSon]

The day that the WHO announces that coffee contributes to cancer, the world will fall into chaos.

[Satyr]

When you go down the Monsanto and FDA rabbit hole what the FDA says starts meaning nothing and you quickly realize that big industries can buy their way into regulatory bodies.

[phantomstrider]

Thank you for covering this. Aspartame's my favourite sweetener for my tea but I got worried after all these new articles claiming WHO says it causes cancer and stopped having it.