Despite aspartame warning, beverage companies likely to stick with it

A health agency has warned the artificial sweetener could be carcinogenic, but others say the risk is overblown and consumers are flocking to it taste.

About eight years ago, in response to customer concerns about possible health risks associated with the artificial sweetener aspartame, PepsiCo decided to remove the ingredient from its popular diet soda.

Sales failed. A year later, aspartame was back in Diet Pepsi.

Today, the top three ingredients listed in the small print on the back of cans and bottles of Diet Pepsi - and its competitor Diet Coke - are water, caramel color and aspartame.

A trip to the grocery store reveals the ingredient on the labels of not only diet sodas but also diet teas, sugar-free gum, sugar-free energy drinks and diet lemonade drink mix. According to some estimates, thousands of products contain aspartame.

The use of aspartame, often known by the brand name Equal, in food products and beverages has long been scrutinized. The latest iteration came on Thursday, when an agency of the World Health Organization said aspartame could possibly cause cancer and encouraged people who consume a significant number of drinks containing aspartame to switch to water or other unsweetened beverages.

But even with the emergence of many new artificial sweeteners, as well as those made from plants and fruits, Big Food just can't stop aspartame, and analysts aren't expecting it. time. That's because the ingredient is one of the cheapest sugar alternatives to use, it works especially well in drinks and mixes, and people love the taste.

There was also a decline in the urgency of the WHO announcement. In a quick rebuke, the US Food and Drug Administration said it disagreed with the findings, reiterating its position that aspartame is safe. And a second W.H.O. The committee said a 150-pound person would need to drink more than a dozen cans of Diet Coke a day to exceed the safe level for the sweetener.

“Major beverage companies have been making contingency plans for months, experimenting with different sweeteners, in an effort to make the taste and quality of diet drinks as consistent as possible with existing products,” Garrett Nelson, who covers the beverage industry at CFRA Research, said "But they're not likely to change the recipe unless they see a significant drop in consumer demand based on the W.H.O. report," he said. he said.

"If consumers really stop buying Diet Coke because of this report, if sales start to suffer, maybe it's time to go to plan B," Mr. Nelson said.

ImageLike Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke uses aspartame.Credit... Andres Kudacki for The New York Times

Coca-Cola referred questions to the American Beverage Association, the arm of industry pressure. "Aspartame is safe," Kevin Keane, the organization's acting president, said in a statement.

PepsiCo did not respond to questions for comment. , but in an interview with Bloomberg Markets aired Thursday, Hugh F. Johnston, chief financial officer of PepsiCo, said he didn't expect a big reaction from consumers.

"I believe that, in fact, this is not going to be a significant issue for consumers based solely on the preponderance of evidence suggesting that aspartame is safe," Johnston said.

WHO assessment adds to consumer confusion around aspartame, but it's also the latest in a recent series of research focused on potential risks and questioning the true benefits of artificial sweeteners.Just weeks ago, the W.H.O.