The Study
Urinary artificial sweeteners and breast cancer risk in women from the Moli-sani Study
This study watched a group of women for over 10 years to see if those who had artificial sweeteners in their urine were more likely to get breast cancer. It found that women with sucralose in their urine might have a higher chance of getting breast cancer before menopause, but it can't prove that the sweetener caused the cancer.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
Scientists checked women's pee to see if artificial sweeteners were linked to breast cancer. They found most women had saccharine in their pee, but that didn’t raise cancer risk. But if sucralose was in the pee, premenopausal women had higher chance of breast cancer.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 567 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The result about sucralose could be important, but only 38 premenopausal cancer cases were studied, so it might be due to chance.
- 2More research is needed.
- 3- 71% of artificial sweetener exposure was from saccharine
- 4- Sucralose in urine linked to 4.23x higher risk of premenopausal breast cancer
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The European Journal of Public Health
Year
2024
Authors
M. Bonaccio, A. Di Castelnuovo, S. Costanzo, C. F. Martínez, E. Ruggiero, J. Troisi, C. Cerletti, M. B. Donati, G. de Gaetano, L. Iacoviello
Related Content
Claims (6)
Among middle-aged women in a big health study, the artificial sweetener saccharine shows up the most in their urine — making up over two-thirds of all sweetener exposure — followed by a natural sweetener from stevia.
Checking for artificial sweeteners in pee gives a truer picture of how much someone is actually consuming than asking them to remember what they ate, which helps scientists better study health risks.
If sucralose shows up in a woman's pee, she might be more likely to get breast cancer before menopause — especially if she's in her middle years — but the data isn't super strong yet.
Women of all menopausal stages seem to be exposed to artificial sweeteners at similar levels, but finding sucralose in urine might be linked to breast cancer only in women who haven't gone through menopause yet — maybe because hormones play a role in how it affects the body.
Some artificial sweeteners with no calories might raise your chances of getting cancer.
In a long-term study of middle-aged women, having artificial sweeteners in their urine — like those in diet sodas — didn't increase their chances of getting breast cancer.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.