World Health Organization labels aspartame as a possible cancer cause, FDA disagrees

A World Health Organization (WHO) committee has released a report that finds the well known sweetener aspartame is a possible cause of cancer. The WHO is the lead agency for health matters within the United Nations.

The new classification is based on a review of "limited evidence." However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration disagrees with the report released Thursday, according to NPR.

This sweetener is often found in diet sodas and certain foods including Jell-O and some syrups. 

Dr. Francesco Branca, the WHO's director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, in a press conference from the group's Geneva headquarters, said that an occasional consumption of this sweetener isn't a risk to most consumers. 

"Our results do not indicate that occasional consumption should pose a risk to most consumers," he said, later adding they have "raised a red flag" and called for more research. 

The FDA wrote in a statement to NPR that the sweetener being labeled by the WHO "as 'possibly carcinogenic to humans' does not mean that aspartame is actually linked to cancer."

The WHO advises the maximum intake of aspartame at 40 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day, and as of now is not changing that recommendation. 

"We're just advising for a bit of moderation," Branca said.