Artificial sweeteners and cancer risk: Results from the NutriNet-Santé population-based cohort study

Abstract (PubMed)

Overall, 102,865 adults from the French population-based cohort NutriNet-Santé (2009–2021) were included (median follow-up = 7.8 years). Higher consumers of total artificial sweeteners had higher risk of overall cancer (n=3,358 cases, HR=1.13 [95% CI 1.03–1.25], P-trend=0.002). Aspartame (HR=1.15 [1.03–1.28], P=0.002) and acesulfame-K (HR=1.13 [1.01–1.26], P=0.007) were associated with increased cancer risk. Higher risks were also observed for breast cancer (HR=1.22 [1.01–1.48] for aspartame) and obesity-related cancers (HR=1.13 [1.00–1.28] for total sweeteners). These results do not support the use of artificial sweeteners as safe alternatives for sugar.