Household brands are already being urged to change the recipes of some of America's favorite drinks and snacks after a popular artificial sweetener was linked to cancer.

The World Health Organization is preparing to declare aspartame - a staple in low-calorie products like Diet Coke, sugar-free Jell-O, Dannon yogurts, menthol candies, and Snapple - a possible human carcinogen.

According to market analysts, it could lead to companies stripping the sweetener from their recipes if there is negative pushback from industry leaders and customers.

It could see popular brands forced to use alternatives, potentially changing taste. But top doctors have told DailyMail.com the cancer link is weak and sugar is still worse for your health.

And several consumer industry trade bodies - whose members use aspartame - on Thursday rejected the International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) assessment.

However, the ruling did not consider how much of a product a person can safely consume.

This individual advice would come from an independent WHO expert committee on food additives, known as JECFA (the Joint WHO and Food and Agriculture Organization's Expert Committee on Food Additives), alongside determinations from national regulators.

The IARC's classification gives aspartame the ranking to aloe Vera extract and using talcum powder on your perineum. In contrast, a harsher 'probably carcinogenic' has been given to eating red meat and being a hairdresser.

The decision has also not been made based on any new evidence; rather the IARC has reviewed existing evidence and come to a different conclusion than other bodies.

Garrett Nelson, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, a global financial firm, said: 'The headlines could have a negative impact on sales volumes of lower-calorie sodas, which is really a function of how much attention the story garners.'