Beyond the sweetness

WE refer to the thought-provoking article “WHO cancer arm deems aspartame ‘possible carcinogen’; consumption limits unchanged” (The Star, July 14; online at bit.ly/aspartamewho), which emphasised our shared concern over the health implications of the use of non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose in Malaysia.

This development brings into question the public’s acceptance of the Malaysian sugar tax intended to encourage the consumption of lower sucrose beverages. Ironically, the tax inadvertently motivates food manufacturers to use non-nutritive sweeteners as a compensatory measure for the sweetness deficit resulting from reduced sucrose.