Sweeteners in pee and breast cancer risk
Urinary artificial sweeteners and breast cancer risk in women from the Moli-sani Study
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
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.
Surprising Findings
Sucralose, not aspartame, showed a strong link to premenopausal breast cancer
Aspartame has been the main focus of cancer concerns, but this study found no link — instead, sucralose emerged as a potential risk, which few expected.
Practical Takeaways
Consider reducing sucralose-containing products (like certain diet sodas or sweeteners) if you're a premenopausal woman.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
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.
Surprising Findings
Sucralose, not aspartame, showed a strong link to premenopausal breast cancer
Aspartame has been the main focus of cancer concerns, but this study found no link — instead, sucralose emerged as a potential risk, which few expected.
Practical Takeaways
Consider reducing sucralose-containing products (like certain diet sodas or sweeteners) if you're a premenopausal woman.
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.