Last reviewed on 12 September 2026.
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FSSAI decides which sweeteners may be sold in India and in which foods. JECFA, the expert committee run jointly by FAO and WHO, sets the acceptable daily intake (ADI) for each additive. WHO issues dietary guidance, and IARC, its cancer research agency, classifies possible causes of cancer. Keeping those roles separate makes the recent news far easier to read.
Which sugar-free sweeteners are permitted in India?
FSSAI permits a set of non-sugar sweeteners in specified foods and up to set limits, among them sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, saccharin sodium, neotame and steviol glycosides, the purified sweet compounds from the stevia leaf. Several sugar alcohols (polyols), such as sorbitol and maltitol, are permitted too. Packaged foods containing artificial sweeteners must declare them, and Indian labelling rules require a statement that such products are not recommended for children. Tabletop tablets and sachets in Indian shops are mostly sucralose, aspartame, stevia or blends of these, and the packet names which one you are buying.
What did WHO say about non-sugar sweeteners in 2023?
In May 2023, WHO recommended that non-sugar sweeteners not be used as a means of controlling body weight or reducing the risk of noncommunicable diseases. The advice rested on a systematic review that found no lasting benefit for body fat, along with observational links between long-term use and type 2 diabetes, heart disease and death, links that may reflect who uses sweeteners rather than what sweeteners do. WHO graded the recommendation conditional, meaning the evidence was not strong. It is not a safety verdict or a ban, and it explicitly leaves out people who already have diabetes, as well as sugar alcohols.
Do sugar-free tablets help with weight loss?
Only modestly, and mostly in the short term. When sugar is swapped for a sweetener and nothing else changes, calories fall, and short trials show small losses of weight as a result. Over months and years the benefit fades in the research WHO reviewed, perhaps because people make up the calories elsewhere or because a strong taste for sweetness stays in place. The more durable approach is to use sweeteners as a bridge, dropping from three spoons of sugar in chai to tablets and then to less sweetness altogether. The sibling page on daily sugar limits shows what that target looks like.
Using them as a bridge rather than a destination
The useful way to think about a tablet is as one stage of a change, not as a permanent swap.
Swap the sugar for tablets
When sugar goes and nothing else changes, the calories fall, and short trials show small losses of weight because of it.
Expect that benefit to be modest
Over months and years it fades in the research WHO reviewed, perhaps because the calories reappear elsewhere, perhaps because the taste for sweetness stays put.
Then reduce the sweetness itself
Go from several tablets to fewer, so that tea stops having to taste sweet at all. A bridge is meant to be crossed.
Work on the plate, not the cup
For blood sugar the real gains come from what is eaten across the day rather than from what the chai is sweetened with.
Does aspartame cause cancer?
The evidence does not show that it does at normal intakes. In July 2023, IARC classified aspartame as "possibly carcinogenic to humans", its Group 2B, on limited evidence mainly concerning a type of liver cancer. That category grades the strength of evidence that something could cause cancer under some conditions; it says nothing about how large any risk is. The same group includes aloe vera whole-leaf extract and traditional Asian pickled vegetables. At the same time, JECFA reviewed the evidence and found no reason to change the safe daily intake it had set decades earlier.
How much aspartame is safe in a day?
JECFA's acceptable daily intake is 40 mg per kg of body weight, a level judged safe to consume every day for a lifetime. For a 60 kg adult, that is 2,400 mg. WHO's own illustration was that a 70 kg adult would have to drink more than 9 to 14 cans of diet soft drink every day to exceed it, assuming typical aspartame levels. Tabletop tablets and sachets usually hold some tens of milligrams each, so two tablets in each of four cups of chai uses only a small share of the allowance. Children weigh less, so the same can takes a larger bite of theirs.
| Sweetener | Acceptable daily intake |
|---|---|
| Aspartame | 40 mg per kg, which is 2,400 mg for a 60 kg adult |
| Sucralose | 15 mg per kg |
| Steviol glycosides | 4 mg per kg, expressed as steviol |
WHO's own illustration: a 70 kg adult would have to drink more than 9 to 14 cans of diet soft drink a day to pass the aspartame figure.
Is sucralose safe to use?
Regulators including FSSAI permit it, and JECFA's acceptable daily intake is 15 mg per kg of body weight, far above what tablets in tea provide. Most sucralose passes through the gut unabsorbed and leaves the body unchanged. The open questions concern the gut itself: a small human study published in 2022 found that sucralose and saccharin altered gut bacteria and blood glucose responses in some volunteers, though not in all of them. That result deserves follow-up rather than alarm. It is a reason to use sweeteners in modest amounts, not a demonstration of harm.
Is stevia safer than artificial sweeteners?
Not automatically. Natural origin is not the same as better testing, and the stevia that regulators have assessed is purified steviol glycosides, with an acceptable daily intake of 4 mg per kg of body weight expressed as steviol. Crude leaf powders and home extracts have not been through the same review. Many products sold as stevia are mostly filler: erythritol, or maltodextrin, which raises blood glucose. Read the ingredient list before assuming a sachet is pure. Stevia's advantages are practical rather than medical. It survives heat well, though some people dislike its liquorice-like aftertaste.
What is the concern about erythritol?
Erythritol is a sugar alcohol used to bulk out many stevia and monk fruit blends and a lot of keto-style products. Observational research published in 2023 linked higher blood levels of erythritol with a greater risk of heart attack and stroke over the following years, and related laboratory work suggested it may make platelets clot more readily. The people studied were largely already at high cardiovascular risk, and the body makes some erythritol itself, so the link is not proof of harm. Until the question is settled, people with heart disease have good reason not to eat erythritol-sweetened products in large amounts.
Can people with diabetes use sugar-free tablets?
Yes, and this is where they are most useful. Non-sugar sweeteners do not raise blood glucose on their own, and WHO's 2023 guideline leaves people with diabetes outside its scope. For someone used to three spoons of sugar in every chai, tablets keep tea drinkable while sugar leaves the diet. The trap is sugar-free packaged food: mithai, biscuits and chocolate sold as sugar-free still carry flour, khoa, fat or maltitol, which raise glucose somewhat and cause loose motions in larger amounts. The real gains come from the plate, as the guide to diabetes-friendly Indian foods shows.
Who must avoid aspartame completely?
People with phenylketonuria (PKU), an inherited condition in which the body cannot break down the amino acid phenylalanine. Aspartame is built from phenylalanine and aspartic acid, so for someone with PKU it adds to a substance that accumulates and can damage the brain. That is why products containing aspartame carry a phenylalanine warning on the pack. For everyone else, the phenylalanine in a tablet is trivial beside what a glass of milk or a bowl of dal supplies. Families managing PKU follow a diet set by a metabolic specialist and should check every sweetened product against it.
Are sweeteners safe for children and in pregnancy?
Children do not need them. Indian labels on artificially sweetened products say they are not recommended for children, and a child's lower body weight means a diet drink uses more of the acceptable intake. The better aim is not to train a young palate to expect constant sweetness, and the child nutrition diet chart shows everyday meals that do without it. In pregnancy, approved sweeteners within their limits are generally regarded by regulators as acceptable, though many obstetricians suggest keeping them modest, and some advise avoiding saccharin because it crosses the placenta. A woman with gestational diabetes should settle which sweeteners she uses, and how much, with her obstetrician or diabetes team.
Which sweeteners can you cook with?
Sucralose, acesulfame potassium and stevia keep their sweetness under heat, so they can go into kheer, halwa or a cake. Aspartame breaks down with prolonged heating and loses its sweetness, so it belongs in tea after pouring or in desserts after cooking, not in a pan left on the flame. One caution on sucralose: German risk assessors have advised against baking it at very high oven temperatures because chlorinated compounds may form, though the evidence is limited. None of these sweeteners caramelises or gives body, which is why sugar-free gulab jamun syrup or burfi never quite behaves like the original.
Sweeteners, labels and the rules behind them
Reading a sweetener label properly means knowing what an additive code, an ADI and a regulatory limit each mean. NNWA's Food Science and FSSAI course covers food science basics, food safety and hygiene, FSSAI essentials, food labelling, preservation and additives, and quality standards. A foundation-level programme of six weeks, it is priced at 9,999 rupees, down from 14,999, or EMI of 1,667 rupees a month, and awards NNWA certificates. It suits anyone who wants to judge food claims from the regulations rather than from the headlines.
The honest summary
Sweeteners approved by FSSAI are safe at the amounts people realistically use, and the aspartame cancer label describes uncertain evidence rather than a demonstrated risk. They do not raise blood glucose, which makes them a fair tool for people with diabetes cutting sugar, but WHO's review found they do little for long-term weight. Avoid aspartame entirely with PKU, go easy on erythritol if your heart is a concern, keep them away from young children, and treat them as a step towards less sweetness rather than a permanent substitute.