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A recent study suggests that pregnant women must avoid artificially sweetened beverages because it might make their infants fat.
It has been found that consuming soft drinks put one at an increased risk of the high body mass index or BMI which could lead to overweight in infants. In fact, consumption of sugary drinks on a daily basis could double the chance of an infant being overweight by its first birthday. This was in comparison with drinking non-sugary beverages.
The study carried out at the University of Manitoba in Canada was published in JAMA Pediatrics. It analyzed around 3,033 pairs of mothers and infants.
Meghan B Azad from the University of Manitoba in Canada says, ”The results provide the first human evidence that artificial sweetener consumption during pregnancy may increase the risk of early childhood overweight.”
Researchers prepared a food questionnaire to assess the diet.
It emerged that about 29.55% of the mothers had apparently been consuming artificially sweetened beverages during pregnancy; at least 5.1% of them drank them on a daily basis. 5.1% of the infants turned out to be overweight.
The women who participated in the study were aged between 32.4 years.
The study has apparently provided the first proof that consuming artificial sweeteners at the time of pregnancy might raise the chances of early childhood overweightedness.
This apart, considering the epidemic of obesity among children now, the associated consumption of artificial sweeteners on a large scale could prompt for further research to arrive at similar outcomes that could be an indicative of long-term effect.
