Children of mothers who had gestational diabetes and who consumed at least one drink with artificial sweeteners each day during pregnancy were more likely to be obese at age seven compared to those born to mothers with gestational diabetes, but who consumed water instead of these drinks.
All this information is the result of a study that raises a new alarm signal about maternal diet and the danger of childhood obesity, which leads to complications such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and certain types of cancer, at some point in adult life. . According to Dr. Mihaela Acasandra, in the study, the authors noted an increase in fluid consumption, in parallel with the increase in amniotic fluid volume. To avoid the extra calorie intake, many of the pregnant women who took part in the study replaced sugar-sweetened drinks and juices with drinks containing artificial sweeteners. Given previous research that linked the consumption of such diet drinks to weight gain, the study authors aimed to demonstrate whether their intake during pregnancy also influences the weight of the child.
According to the study’s principal investigator, beverages containing artificial sweeteners contribute to the same degree of increased risk of juvenile obesity as sugar-sweetened beverages. Unsurprisingly, the children of women who consumed diet drinks instead of water during pregnancy had a higher risk of obesity at age seven.
The study monitored the evolution of around 900 pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes, of which in 9% of the analyzed cases the pregnant women consumed drinks with artificial sweeteners daily, and following the interpretation of the data, a 60% increase in the risk of obesity was observed among the children born, this becoming double at the age of seven, compared to those whose mothers did not consume such drinks.
“Consumption of diet drinks did not offer any advantage in terms of protection against obesity compared to the intake of sugar-sweetened drinks, with the odds of obesity being equally increased at age seven in both situations. In contrast, replacing sugary drinks with water reduced the risk of obesity in children by 17%. Although the mechanism by which non-caloric artificially sweetened beverages increase the risk of juvenile obesity is not fully elucidated, the authors of the study, citing a series of studies that associate weight gain due to the intake of sweetened beverages with changes in the microflora of the digestive tract, emphasized the doctor.
2023-12-12 14:40:38
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