Women often worry about gaining too much weight during pregnancy, and with good reason. Extra pounds added during pregnancy can be difficult to shed, even though normal gestational weight gain usually disappears if a mother nurses her baby. A study in Scotland showed that when babies grow up, those whose mothers gained excessive weight are at higher risk for stroke (Heart, online May 12, 2016).
Mom’s Diet Soda May Backfire:
Women who drink diet soda in an effort to control their weight gain may be risking an unintended consequence: a fat baby. Canadian scientists studied 3,000 mother-infant pairs. The babies had been born between 2009 and 2012, and the mothers had answered questionnaires about their habits during their second or third trimester.
Nearly one-third of the women reported drinking artificially sweetened beverages; about 5 percent said they consume such a beverage every day. When their babies were weighed and measured at the age of one year, babies whose mothers had consumed diet drinks daily were twice as likely to be overweight.
Higher Risk of Baby Fat:
This association of baby fat with mom’s diet soda doesn’t prove that the link is causative. Nonetheless, an accompanying editorial suggests that pregnant women be cautious about consuming artificial sweeteners.
JAMA Pediatrics, online May 9, 2016
