Open Food Labels. Search 429 ingredients⌘K

Study · International journal of cancer · 2023

Aspartame and other sweeteners in Spanish cancer study

Palomar-Cros A, Straif K, Romaguera D, et al · Free full text

What it found

In this study of people in Spain, aspartame and other artificial sweeteners were not linked to cancer overall.

Among people with diabetes, high use was linked to some cancers, but the authors say these results should be read with care.

What they found

Studies in people

Overall cancer link

Across all participants, use of aspartame or other artificial sweeteners was not linked to colorectal, breast, prostate or stomach cancer, or to chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Diabetes and colorectal cancer

Among people with diabetes, those with high use of sweeteners other than aspartame had higher odds of colorectal cancer than non-users. The authors note that some of these groups had few cases.

Diabetes and stomach cancer

Among people with diabetes, high use of aspartame was linked to higher odds of stomach cancer, and high use of other sweeteners was also linked to higher odds of stomach cancer. The authors say these results should be interpreted cautiously.

Breast cancer in diabetes

Among people with diabetes, high use of aspartame was linked to lower odds of breast cancer. The authors say this may reflect other diet and lifestyle factors, and it was based on few people.

Sweeteners with sugar

When sweetener use and sugar intake were looked at together, high sweetener use with high sugar intake was linked to higher odds of stomach cancer in people with diabetes. This was based on very few cases in the comparison group.

What the authors conclude

  • They say their findings show no clear link between aspartame and other artificial sweeteners and cancer risk in this study.
  • They report higher risks of stomach and colorectal cancer with high sweetener use among people with diabetes, and a lower risk for breast cancer.
  • The authors advise that these results should be interpreted with caution because some groups had few cases and leftover confounding cannot be ruled out.

How it was done

Artificial sweeteners are widely used, and some earlier animal studies raised concerns about a possible link to cancer. The authors wanted to look at whether aspartame and other sweeteners are linked to several common cancers in Spain.

They recruited 1881 colorectal, 1510 breast, 972 prostate and 351 stomach cancer cases and 109 chronic lymphocytic leukaemia cases, plus 3629 population controls, in Spain between 2008 and 2013. People reported their use of sweeteners from drinks and table-top products in a food questionnaire covering the previous year.

What it can’t tell you

  • This is a case-control study, so it can show links but cannot prove that sweeteners cause or prevent cancer.
  • People reported their past sweetener use themselves, which can be inaccurate, and the questionnaire did not cover all food sources of sweeteners.
  • Leftover differences between people who use sweeteners and those who do not could still explain some of the results.

The paper

Title
Consumption of aspartame and other artificial sweeteners and risk of cancer in the Spanish multicase-control study (MCC-Spain)
Type
Study
Evidence
Studies in people
Summarised from
Full text
Cite
Palomar-Cros A, Straif K, Romaguera D, et al (2023). Consumption of aspartame and other artificial sweeteners and risk of cancer in the Spanish multicase-control study (MCC-Spain). International journal of cancer. doi:10.1002/ijc.34577Free full textPubMed 37323037DOI

Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error