Hi RB

I tried to find the original study, but it doesn't appear to
be on the net yet. Here is another news commentary on the
report:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/519351/?sc=rsmn
Unfortunately, that is from a group that is obviously not
impartial.

However, I found that one of the authors was Susan T Mayne.
In a different study, she not only found that diet soft
drinks weren't harmful, but appears in this study to be
implying that they are actually associated with a reduction
in a specific cancer (CSD stands for "Carbonated soft
drinks"):
http://tinyurl.com/qsjnc or
http://jncicancerspectrum.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/jnci;98/1/72?m
axtoshow=&HITS=&hits=&RESULTFORMAT=1&author1=Mayne%2C+s&andorexacttitle=and&ando
rexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT
These findings indicate that CSD consumption (especially
diet CSD) is inversely associated with risk of esophageal
adenocarcinoma, and thus it is not likely to have
contributed to the rising incidence rates.

So I hoists my diet LA Ice right back at you:-)

Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.
d&e, metformin 2x500mg

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer
Tue Apr 4, 9:54 PM ET

WASHINGTON - A huge federal study in people — not rats — takes the
fizz out of arguments that the diet soda sweetener aspartame might
raise the risk of cancer.

No increased risk was seen even among people who gulped down many
artificially sweetened drinks a day, said researchers who studied the
diets of more than half a million older Americans.

A consumer group praised the study, done by reputable researchers
independent of any funding or ties to industry groups.

"It goes a fair way toward allaying concerns about aspartame," said
Michael Jacobson, head of the Center for Science in the Public
Interest, which had urged the government to review the sweetener's
safety after a troubling rat study last year.

Findings were reported Tuesday at a meeting of the American
Association for Cancer Research.

Aspartame came on the market 25 years ago and is found in thousands of
products — sodas, chewing gum, dairy products and even many medicines.
NutraSweet and Equal are popular brands.

Research in the 1970s linked a different sweetener, saccharin, to
bladder cancer in lab rats. Although the mechanism by which this
occurred does not apply to people and no human risk was ever
documented, worries about sugar substitutes in general have persisted.

They worsened after Italian researchers last year reported results of
the largest animal study ever done on aspartame, involving 1,800 lab
rats. Females developed more lymphomas and leukemias on aspartame than
those not fed the sweetener.

The new study, by scientists at the     National Cancer Institute,
involved 340,045 men and 226,945 women, ages 50 to 69, participating
in a research project by the National Insitutes of Health and AARP,
formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons.

From surveys they filled out in 1995 and 1996 detailing food and
beverage consumption, researchers calculated how much aspartame they
consumed, especially from sodas or from adding the sweetener to coffee
or tea.

Over the next five years, 2,106 developed blood-related cancers such
as lymphoma or leukemia, and 376 developed brain tumors. No link was
found to aspartame consumption for these cancers in general or for
specific types, said Unhee Lim, who reported the study's findings.

The dietary information was collected before the cancers developed,
removing the possibility of "memory bias" — faulty recollection
influenced by knowing you have a disease.

"It's very reassuring. It's a large study with a lot of power," said
Richard Adamson, a senior science consultant to the American Beverage
Association, the leading industry group.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest still warns about one
potential hazard of aspartame use: thinking that calories "saved" from
using a sugar substitute justify "spending" more on unhealthy foods.

"Drinking a diet soda at lunch does not mean it's okay to have a
larger dessert at dinner," the group's Web site warns.

___

On the Net:

Aspartame fact sheet:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/artificial-sweeteners
Cancer conference: http://www.aacr.org