Formaldehyde Officially Cancer-Causing

Reuters reported on June 11 that the U.S. government has added the chemical formaldehyde to its official list of cancer-causing agents. Formaldehyde is found in things like some plastics and embalming fluid. What you won’t learn from the article is that formaldehyde can be produced from our diet.

Once source of formaldehyde is methanol (also known as wood alcohol), which the body can produce from the digestion of the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Canderel).

Research published in June 1998 in Life Sciences demonstrated in animals that low-level ingestion of aspartame could lead to formaldehyde accumulation in the various parts of the body, including the liver and brain.

In addition, several human studies published in the Journal of Occupational Medicine in December 1983, in the American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal in 1982, and in Fortschritte der Medizin journal in 1980 have found that chronic, low-level formaldehyde exposure has been linked with a variety of health issues, including headaches, fatigue, chest tightness, nausea, lack of concentration, seizures, and behavioral impairment.

While long-term studies of the effects of aspartame have not been performed in humans, they have been done in animals. In one study published in April 2006 in Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers fed aspartame to rats from the age of eight weeks until they died.

Rats consuming aspartame were found to be at significantly increased risk of several forms of cancer, including lymphoma and leukemia. An increased risk of these conditions was found even at levels of aspartame intake lower than the official upper limit for humans.

While in Europe intakes of 40 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight per day are considered safe, an increased risk in cancer was seen in rats consuming just half this amount.

In Europe, the body entrusted with assessing the safety of aspartame is the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Recently, two European members of parliament (MEPs) accused the EFSA of not assessing scientific data on aspartame properly and even losing crucial information.

Here are a couple of things we can be quite confident about:

• Consuming aspartame increases formaldehyde exposure.
• Formaldehyde causes cancer.

My advice would be to avoid aspartame (unless, of course, you don’t care whether you get cancer or not).

Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and author with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His website is DrBriffa.com