歐盟專家：甜味劑阿斯巴甜不會(huì)增加患癌風(fēng)險(xiǎn)
EU Panel: Aspartame Poses No Cancer Risk

摘要：
    做為一種被廣泛使用的甜味劑，阿斯巴甜安全與否一直受到一些人的質(zhì)疑，但一個(gè)由科學(xué)家組成的歐盟食品安全工作小組日前說，沒有跡象表明阿斯巴甜會(huì)增加一個(gè)人患上癌癥的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。
    The popular diet sweetener aspartame won another round in the safety debate when a European panel of scientists said Friday there's no sign it raises the risk of cancer.

    做為一種被廣泛使用的甜味劑，阿斯巴甜安全與否一直受到一些人的質(zhì)疑，但一個(gè)由科學(xué)家組成的歐盟食品安全工作小組日前說，沒有跡象表明阿斯巴甜會(huì)增加一個(gè)人患上癌癥的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。

    The popular diet sweetener aspartame won another round in the safety debate when a European panel of scientists said Friday there's no sign it raises the risk of cancer.

    據(jù)美聯(lián)社日前報(bào)道，阿斯巴甜廣泛存在于數(shù)千種產(chǎn)品里，包括減肥汽水、口香糖、乳制品以及很多種藥品。意大利科學(xué)家在去年進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)研究得出的結(jié)論顯示，阿斯巴甜會(huì)提高實(shí)驗(yàn)老鼠患上淋巴瘤及白血病的幾率。但負(fù)責(zé)向歐盟食品安全機(jī)構(gòu)提供咨詢服務(wù)的專家們?nèi)涨爸赋�，這一結(jié)論是錯(cuò)誤的。這個(gè)專家小組的負(fù)責(zé)人、毒物學(xué)家伊奧娜·普拉特表示，“我們目前看不出有什么理由需要對(duì)阿斯巴甜的安全性做進(jìn)一步的評(píng)估”。

    An Italian study last year wrongly concluded the sugar substitute led to higher rates of lymphoma and leukemia in rats, said the experts who advise the European Food Safety Authority.

    "There is no reason ... to undertake any further extensive review of the safety of aspartame," said Iona Pratt, a toxicologist who headed the panel.

    美國(guó)聯(lián)邦政府的有關(guān)機(jī)構(gòu)曾經(jīng)對(duì)超過50萬名美國(guó)人食用阿斯巴甜的情況進(jìn)行過研究。研究的最終結(jié)果顯示，在這種甜味劑與癌癥之間不存在任何聯(lián)系。歐盟專家小組的觀點(diǎn)支持了美國(guó)這項(xiàng)大規(guī)模研究的結(jié)論。歐盟專家小組認(rèn)為，患有腫瘤的老鼠的數(shù)量并未因它們服用了這種甜味劑而有所增加。在去年意大利科學(xué)家研究中使用的老鼠里，有很多一直患有慢性呼吸道疾病，按照歐盟專家小組的說法，這才是令它們身上出現(xiàn)腫瘤的最有可能的原因。

    The findings support a large U.S. federal study released last month, which found no link to cancer in a study of aspartame use among more than half a million Americans.

    Aspartame is found in thousands of products, including diet sodas, chewing gum, dairy products and even many medicines. It's sold under the brand names NutraSweet, Equal and Canderel.

    The new review of its potential health risks found that the number of tumors in rats did not increase in relation to the dosage of aspartame fed to the animals. Many of the rats in the study had suffered from chronic respiratory disease and the panel said that was the most likely cause of the tumors.

    歐盟專家小組說，他們所做的評(píng)估工作可以使多年來關(guān)于阿斯巴甜安全性的爭(zhēng)論告一段落了。這些專門從事食品安全研究的科學(xué)家們還對(duì)歐盟目前實(shí)行的阿斯巴甜每日安全食用量標(biāo)準(zhǔn)表示滿意。按照該標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，每公斤體重每天的最大攝入量為40毫克，他們認(rèn)為這一上限其實(shí)遠(yuǎn)高于人們正常的食用量。普拉特在羅馬出席該小組評(píng)估結(jié)論的發(fā)布會(huì)時(shí)表示，“如果你平時(shí)總是食用小包裝阿斯巴甜的話，那么你每天要在自己的咖啡里放入80小包阿斯巴甜才會(huì)超過這一標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。”

    The European panel said its assessment should put the lid on years of debate over the sweetener. The food safety scientists were also satisfied with the current European level set for its safe daily consumption — a maximum of 40 milligrams per kilogram (about 2.2 pounds) of body weight — saying that the limit is well above what people consume normally.

    "If you pick up little packets of it, you would have to take 80 of those packets into your coffee in one day in order to exceed this level," Pratt said at a presentation in Rome of the panel's findings.

    那些意大利科學(xué)家則堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為他們當(dāng)初的研究結(jié)論是正確的，并且表示將把有關(guān)阿斯巴甜安全性的研究工作繼續(xù)進(jìn)行下去。位于意大利博洛尼亞的歐洲拉馬奇尼基金會(huì)的莫蘭多·索弗里蒂博士指責(zé)美國(guó)人在研究中并未對(duì)阿斯巴甜和其它種類的甜味劑加以區(qū)分，而且也沒有計(jì)算一個(gè)人終生食用甜味劑的數(shù)量。

    The Italian researchers who conducted the rat study insisted that their initial findings were correct and pledged to continue studying the subject.

    Dr. Morando Soffritti, who led the study for the Bologna-based European Ramazzini Foundation, also assailed the U.S. study, saying that it was an example of how "some researchers are ready to put themselves at the disposal of the industry" that produces sweeteners. He contended the U.S. research didn't distinguish between aspartame and other sweetener use and did not measure lifetime sweetener use.

    阿斯巴甜于25年前被首次推向市場(chǎng)。科學(xué)家們?cè)谏蟼�(gè)世紀(jì)70年代進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)老鼠實(shí)驗(yàn)證明，一種名叫糖精的甜味劑會(huì)使得動(dòng)物患上膀胱癌。盡管引發(fā)此種關(guān)聯(lián)的機(jī)制并不適用于人類，而且迄今為止也沒有任何與人類有關(guān)的危險(xiǎn)性獲得證實(shí)，但對(duì)于各種蔗糖替代物的安全性的擔(dān)憂卻始終縈繞在人們心頭。在索弗里蒂的研究結(jié)論被公諸于眾后，這種憂慮變得更為明顯了。

    Aspartame first came on the market 25 years ago. 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.