WHO links aspartame to cancer

The producers of aspartame — the world’s best-selling sugar substitute– could lose up to 40 percent of their revenues after the World Health Organization last week labeled it as a possible carcinogen.

The artificial sweetener, widely used in diet drinks and low-sugar foods, could possibly cause cancer, the WHO said, but only in very high doses.

The WHO noted that a person weighing 150 pounds could avoid a risk of cancer but still drink about a dozen cans of diet soda a day.

This was the first time that the WHO has weighed in publicly on the effects of the nearly ubiquitous artificial sweetener.