ROME--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Italian and European food safety, health and nutrition experts gathered today for a conference on “No-Calorie Intense Sweeteners – Focus on Safety of Use”, at the head offices of the Italian Ministry of Health. All experts attending reached the conclusion that all low- and no- calorie sweeteners currently available on the market are safe for consumption. This view supports the position adopted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)1 in early 2011, which states that low- and no- calorie sweeteners approved for use in foods and drinks in the European Union are perfectly safe2.
Speaking at the conference, Andrea Poli, Scientific Director of Nutrition Foundation of Italy (NFI), said: “Recent years have seen the dissemination of contradictory information about the alleged health risks arising from the consumption of some low- and no- calorie sweeteners such as aspartame. This information is generally contrary to the prevailing opinion of the scientific community. At today's conference, which viewed the latest positions by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), top-tier experts said that there is no longer room for doubt about the safety of these substances, which have been thoroughly evaluated and approved by the appropriate regulatory authorities.”
The conference was addressed by a panel of authoritative scientific experts including:
Giuseppe Fatati, President of Fondazione ADI, the Italian Association of Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition
John Christian Larsen, Chief consultant in Toxicology and Risk Assessment of the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark
Carlo La Vecchia, Epidemiologist at Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research and at University of Milan
Marina Marinovich, President of the Italian Society of Toxicology
Andrea Poli, Scientific Director of Nutrition Foundation of Italy (NFI).
Giuseppe Fatati, President of Fondazione ADI - Italian Association of Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition, underlined that: “Today’s conference is important to amplifying a message that’s already deep-seated in the global scientific community: the safety of low- and no- calorie sweeteners. Our final objective is to reassure people who consume products containing low- and no- calorie sweeteners and to confirm that if consumed as part of a balanced diet, they can help people to manage their calorie intake – which is so important as we face the spreading of more sedentary lifestyles.”
Carlo La Vecchia, Epidemiologist at Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research and at University of Milan, added: “None of the epidemiological studies conducted by us as well as by the US National Cancer Institute - found that low- and no- calorie sweeteners, with particular regard to the two sweeteners mostly debated, saccharine and aspartame, pose any risk to human health. None of the alarms issued over the past forty years has ever been borne out by the results.”
John Christian Larsen, Chief consultant in Toxicology and Risk Assessment of the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark noted: “The authorities which examine and evaluate the safety of low- and no-calorie sweeteners follow rigorous methods, widely accepted worldwide. Moments of debate and communication like today’s conference are important, as they aim to clarify many "false alarms" on low- and no- calorie sweeteners’ safety launched in the past."
Also speaking at the conference Marina Marinovich, President of the Italian Society of Toxicology, concluded: “All food additives are subjected to broad-ranging and in-depth testing before they obtain approval, and low- and no- calorie sweeteners are no exception. The studies questioning the safety of these substances have generally been based on parameters that do not comply with commonly accepted methods, and must therefore be deemed inadmissible from a scientific perspective.”
ENDS
NFI – Nutrition Foundation of Italy
NFI - Nutrition Foundation of Italy was created in December 1976 with the goal of enabling interaction and collaboration with government bodies, universities and industry to contribute to the development of scientific research, to the exchange of information in the field of nutrition and to the promotion of interdisciplinary researches in this area. NFI has a Scientific Committee of Experts with recognized competence in the different disciplines related to food and beverage. Finally the Directorate, supported by the Secretariat, ensures an accurate management, expansion and execution of all activities.
Fondazione ADI - Associazione Italiana di Dietetica e Nutrizione Clinica (ADI Foundation - Italian Association of Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition)
The mission of Fondazione ADI is the enhancement of dietetics and clinical nutrition, and the improvement of the professionals interested in this field. This goal is achieved through constant upgrading, technical-scientific and cultural progress, identification of specializations within the profession, training, promotion and implementation of initiatives aimed at studying and investigating - at scientific and technical level - those subjects which are currently, or may be in the future, at the hearth of the profession of those who operate in the dietetics and clinical nutrition field - in addition to complementary related subjects.
For a full list of participants visit: www.nutrition-foundation.it/
1 Statement of EFSA on the scientific evaluation of two studies related to the safety of artificial sweeteners - EFSA Journal 2011;9(2):2089 [16 pp.]. http://www.efsa.europa.eu/it/efsajournal/pub/2089.htm
2 In May 2011, EFSA accepted a request from the European Commission to bring forward (from 2020) the re-evaluation of the sweetener aspartame to 2012.