Downing Diet Soda linked to Risk of Premature Birth
By Anne Harding
NEW YORK |
Fri Jul 23, 2010 2:30pm EDT
NEW YORK
(Reuters Health) - New research suggests that drinking lots of
artificially sweetened beverages may be linked with an increased risk
of premature births.
"It may be non-optional for
pregnant women to have high consumption of these types of products,"
Dr. Thorhallur I. Halldorsson of the Statens Serum Institut in
Copenhagen, one of the researchers on the study, told Reuters Health.
"Diet"
drinks are widely promoted as a healthy alternative to sugary sodas and
juices, but Halldorsson and his colleagues note that there's been
little research on the safety of regular consumption of artificial
sweeteners in humans.
Soft drinks
-- both artificially sweetened and sugar sweetened -- were recently
linked to high blood pressure, the researchers add, which increases the
risk of premature delivery. To investigate whether there might be a
direct link, the researchers looked at nearly 60,000 Danish women who
reported on their diet, including how many soft drinks they had each
day, at around 25 weeks of pregnancy.
Around 5 percent of women delivered their babies before 37 weeks.
Women
who had at least one serving of artificially sweetened soda a day while
they were pregnant were 38 percent more likely to deliver preterm than
women who drank no diet soda at all, the researchers report in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Women
who had at least four diet sodas a day were nearly 80 percent more
likely to deliver preterm. The association was the same for
normal-weight and overweight women.
The
researchers did not report the actual risk of premature babies in each
group. However, according to the March of Dimes, one in eight babies --
or around 13 percent -- is born too soon. This means that if drinking
diet soda does indeed increase risk - which must first be confirmed by
other research teams -- a woman who drank at least one diet soda daily
would have a 17 percent risk, while her risk would be around 22 percent
if she drank four or more diet sodas.
In
a statement, the Calorie Control Council, a lobbying group for
companies that make and distribute low-calorie foods, called the study
"misleading."
"This study may
unduly alarm pregnant women. While this study is counter to the weight
of the scientific evidence demonstrating that low-calorie sweeteners
are safe for use in pregnancy, research has shown that overweight and
obesity can negatively affect pregnancy outcomes," Beth Hubrich, a
dietitian with the council, said in the statement. "Further,
low-calorie sweeteners can help pregnant women enjoy the taste of
sweets without excess calories, leaving room for nutritious foods and
beverages without excess weight gain - something that has been shown to
be harmful to both the mother and developing baby."
Because
only diet soda was linked to preterm delivery, not sugar-sweetened
soda, the findings suggest that the artificial sweetener itself, not
soda drinking, could account for the relationship, the researchers say.
However, they add, other possible causes for the link can't be ruled
out.
The researchers didn't look
at specific artificial sweeteners, and Halldorsson noted that many
beverages contain more than one of these chemicals. However, he and his
colleagues say, there is indirect evidence linking the sweetener
aspartame to preterm delivery in animals.
Aspartame
breaks down into methanol and other substances in the body, which can
in turn be converted to toxic substances such as formaldehyde and
formic acid, the researchers explain. And studies in non-human primates
have linked even very low exposure to methanol to shortened pregnancy
and labor complications.
While
pregnant women who consume soft drinks shouldn't be alarmed by the
findings, Halldorsson said, "what we are seeing warrants further
attention."
According to the
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, women who normally
use the artificial sweeteners saccharin (Sweet n' Low), aspartame
(NutraSweet), sucralose (Splenda) or acesulfame K (Sunett, Sweet One)
can safely continue to do so "in moderation" during pregnancy.
SOURCE: link.reuters.com/vep98m American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, online June 30, 2010.
