Isn’t it safe to say that Diet soda is bad for you? A new study links Aspartame to cancer yet the US FDA says there’s no reason to review the chemical’s safety. From the Sydney Morning Herald:

A US consumer group has called for the review after Italian
researchers published a new study that showed aspartame – widely
used in soft drinks – might cause leukaemia, lymphoma and breast
cancer in rats.

"This is the second study by the same lab showing that aspartame
causes cancer in rats," Centre for Science in the Public Interest
executive director Michael Jacobson said.

Their study of more than 4,000 rats showed a lifetime of eating
high doses of the sweetener raised the likelihood of several types
of cancer.

How did this study differ from previous research?

Jacobson said researchers in previous studies all killed rats at
the age of two years.
Allowing the rats to live longer may have been a better way to
assess the natural risk of cancer, he said.

It all boils down to:

Jacobson said people should avoid the product for now.
"People shouldn’t panic, but they should stop buying beverages
and foods containing aspartame," he advised.