On Wednesday, the Mash Telegram channel reported that the largest Russian producers of sodas switched from sugar to its substitutes, such as acesulfame potassium and aspartame, due to the introduction of excise tax on sugar-containing drinks. The carcinogenic effect of the latter, in particular, was announced in July by the World Health Organization (WHO), which, however, recognized an acceptable dose of 40 mg of this substance per 1 kg of body weight per day.

 

Medics in conversations with a TASS correspondent urged to control the composition of products, especially for children - one of the largest groups of soda consumers. Margarita Koroleva, a nutritionist, explained that consumption of sweet drinks stimulates the spread of pathogenic intestinal flora, which begins to "multiply", reducing immunity, and also forms "addiction to sweet taste", as artificial sweeteners are 180-200 times sweeter than sugar.

 

Svetlana Makarova, deputy director for scientific work at the National Medical Center for Children's Health of the Russian Ministry of Health, called for avoiding the use of sweeteners in children's food and reducing sugar consumption by children in general.

 

Manufacturers do not agree
 

In the associations of soda producers do not share the concerns of medics, considering both sweeteners safe. "If a person's weight is 50 kg, his critical norm of aspartame is 2 grams, which requires drinking more than 10 cans of soda with the additive at a time. It is very difficult to exceed the daily norm of aspartame consumption prescribed by WHO," said Dmitry Leonov, deputy chairman of the board of Rusprodsoyuz association.

 

"Studies of sweeteners at the global level confirm that their consumption in the composition of various products is significantly lower than the individually permissible daily consumption rate among the general population, both children and adults," added Maxim Novikov, president of the Union of Juice, Water and Beverage Producers (Soyuznapitka). He also emphasized that aspartame is well-studied and statements about its danger contradict "the base of scientific evidence of the last decades." 

 

Source: FOODNAVIGATOR.RU