Diet Pepsi Is Going To Be Aspartame-Free

Ordering a Diet Pepsi clearly states that you want no caffeine in your drink and that you’re watching your waistline. But unbeknownst to you, that same drink contained aspartame – an artificial sweetener linked to cancer.

Despite the scientifically proven dangers of aspartame, the FDA approved the ingredient back in 1981, and people are still drinking the stuff 34 years later. However, some conscious individuals kept slamming aspartame so much that Pepsi finally decided to remove it from their Diet soft drink.

True Or False?

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that’s over 200 times sweeter than sugar. And as research suggest, it’s been causing brain tumors for quite some time now.

Even though science has proven that consuming aspartame increases your risk of getting cancer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared is safe.

They say: “Aspartame is one of the most exhaustively studied substances in the human food supply, with more than 100 studies supporting its safety.”

However, some people didn’t believe what the FDA has been saying and they were still strongly against this stuff being available to everyone. This is what pushed PepsiCo Inc. into getting rid of aspartame for good.

Word Of The People

It wasn’t just criticism that pushed Pepsi into this decision. The anti-aspartame movement caused a 5.2% drop in Diet Pepsi sales in the U.S. last year. Diet Coke suffered a 6.6% drop, but their drink remains the same.

In a statement for Bloomberg, senior vice president of Pepsi Seth Kaufman said: “Decades of studies have shown that aspartame is safe, but the reality is that consumer demand in the U.S. has been evolving. The U.S. diet cola consumer has been asking and asking and asking for an aspartame-free great diet cola.”

Coca-Cola also spoke up, but with a different message: “There are currently no plans to change the sweetener for Diet Coke, America’s favorite no-calorie soft drink,” said Coke spokesman Scott Williamson. “All of the beverages we offer and ingredients we use are safe.”

Instead of aspartame, Pepsi plans to use a sucralose and acesulfame potassium compound. Regardless of whether aspartame is that bad for us, perhaps removing it from some drinks is the wisest decision. Let’s hope the other soft drink companies follow Pepsi’s example for a cancer-free future.