Coca-Cola, PepsiCo sales likely to be able to stand up

The major beverage companies have significant stakes in the sugar-free sector with well-known brands like Coke Zero, Diet Coke, Pepsi Zero Sugar and Diet Pepsi.

The announcement by the World Health Organization last week that aspartame may be “possibly carcinogenic” is unlikely to have a significant impact on the sales at Coca-Cola as well as PepsiCo or prompt beverage companies to abruptly stop using the ingredient in a heated debate for a sugar substitute.

“We just don’t really see a big impact,” said Brittany Quatrochi, an analyst at Edward Jones, who covers PepsiCo as well as Coca-Cola. “I just don’t think that [the WHO’s statement is] necessarily going to alter the consumer perspective when we’re already seeing soda and many of the other types of products that contain aspartame viewed as unhealthy.”

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Quatrochi said that processed and red meat, along with alcohol, are listed as being cited by WHO for having a greater link to cancer than aspartame, and the majority of consumers still indulge in these foods.

Diet sodas are an encouraging sign to Coca-Cola as well as PepsiCo in a sour market where sales of regular cola have plummeted as people reduced their intake of sugar. Diet sodas currently comprise 27 percent of carbonated soft drinks industry, according to Statista.

The big cola companies have significant stakes within the sugar-free sector by offering Coke Zero, Diet Coke, Pepsi Zero Sugar and Diet Pepsi — all four of which are laced with aspartame.

Courtesy of PepsiCo

The sweetener has attracted criticism from a variety of sources who have reported on links between the sugar substitute and cancer, as well as other illnesses.

However, the majority of research and health regulatory bodies around the globe, including the FDA, have endorsed aspartame’s security and highlighted an extensive amount of tests for the food ingredient.

The FDA reiterated its support for aspartame last week, while also pointing out the research conducted by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer which identified the possible connection with cancer.

A separate committee at WHO The Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) has said that it analyzed the risk of cancer in its report and concluded “the evidence of an association between aspartame consumption and cancer in humans is not convincing.”

There is no incentive to change anything

Aspartame is a component of around 6,000 different products worldwide that include chewing gum confections, gelatins and confections pudding mixes, desserts and yogurt. Some other popular products that contain aspartame include Crystal Light Extra gum, certain Snapple drinks, and sugar-free Jell-O.

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Hank Cardello, a food industry expert at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business who was the first brand director at Diet Coke in 1983, claimed that when aspartame first came out, it was an “breakthrough ingredient.” Today, aspartame is paired with sucralose, stevia, and Acesulfame K in addition to others, providing food and beverage companies more options for sweeteners.

Cardello stated that companies in the beverage industry are always looking for a more affordable, safe and sweetener that is more sugar-like. For the moment, the companies that are using aspartame will not change their ways from it.