Aspartame Dropped by Diet Pepsi

PepsiCo announced that it would no longer use aspartame in its Diet Pepsi due to customer worries. The company said it would replace it with sucralose, which is another artificial sweetener know more commonly as Splenda.

The soft drink makers decision to swap the sweeteners comes at a time when American consumers turn away from the diet sodas. Coca-Cola announced during the week that its sales volume of Diet Coke, which contains aspartame as well, dropped by 5% in North American during the first quarter of 2015.

Coca-Cola, based in Atlanta, said that it does not have any plans to change its Diet Coke sweetener. Diet Coke is the top-selling diet cola in the U.S.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says that aspartame which is commonly known by brands names NutraSweet and Equal, is one of the most studied substances in the food supply for humans, with over 100 studies that support its safety.

Just recently, an advisory committee to the government for the U.S. Agricultural Department’s dietary guidelines said that aspartame appears safe in amounts that Americans consume. However, it added that there remains uncertainty about if the sweetener’s risk increases for some blood cancer men have.

Pepsi and Coke executives blame the drop in sales on the perceptions of the safety of the sweetener.

The negative attitudes of consumers about aspartame do not seem to reach sucralose. Sparkling Ice a drink with zero calories created during the 1990s is made with sucralose and has enjoyed strong sales in recent years.

Diet Pepsi will still contain ace-K or acesulfame potassium, which the soft drink maker said it had added to the soft drink in 2012 to help prevent the taste of the product from degrading over a period of time.

PepsiCo said the reformulated Diet Pepsi is scheduled to hit shelves some time during August, with cans saying “Now Aspartame Free,”

The change is only in U.S. and will affect every variety of Diet Pepsi.