Artificial sweeteners during pregnancy associated with 2X greater risk of infant being overweight

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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 9:27 am Email this article

Women who consumed artificially sweetened beverages during pregnancy were 2.2 times as likely to have an infant that was overweight at the age of one-year than women who did not consume artificial sweeteners according to a new study from Canadian researchers.

“These effects were not explained by maternal BMI, diet quality, total energy intake, or other obesity risk factors,” according to the paper.

“There were no comparable associations for sugar-sweetened beverages,” the paper also notes.

“To our knowledge, we provide the first human evidence that maternal consumption of artificial sweeteners during pregnancy may influence infant BMI,” the authors of the study conclude.

Subjects: 3033 Mothers and Infants from Canada

The study included 3033 mother and infants from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study, a population-based birth cohort that recruited healthy pregnant women from 2009 to 2012.

Reference

Azad MB, Sharma AK, de Souza RJ, Dolinsky VW, Becker AB, Mandhane PJ, Turvey SE, Subbarao P, Lefebvre DL, and Sears MR. Association Between Artificially Sweetened Beverage Consumption During Pregnancy and Infant Body Mass Index. JAMA Pediatr, 2016 May 9; Published online.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27159792

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• Artificial sweetners (general)

• Pregnancy

• Pregnant women, effects on offspring