Have a Diet Soda to Increase Chances of Preterm Labor
I do not think any pregnant woman seriously wishes to go into labor early. I am seven months pregnant and this belly makes me want to give birth any day now, it seems like too much to carry! Of course not in reality. The troubling thing is that preterm labor has become so common. While nobody can pinpoint just one reason why, here is some food for thought.
A study published last fall in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that daily intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks (i.e. aspartame) may increase the risk of preterm delivery. Women who drank one artificially sweetened serving per day were 38 percent more likely to delivery early, while women who had four servings a day were 78 percent more likely to go into labor prematurely. The same was not observed for sugar sweetened soft drinks. I don’t know about you, but that looks like a huge risk to take!
Yes, the study only involved 59,334 Danish women. It isn’t conclusive either. You would think someone would at least look into this further, or at least women would be publicly advised to stay away from this stuff, right? If artificial sweeteners may be broken down in the body into chemicals that change the womb, I think it is cause enough for concern. The U.S. premature birth rate is among the highest in industrialized nations. Logically that makes no sense. We supposedly have the best care, but the evidence shows we’re a sick nation. The rate rose steadily by about 30% for three decades until it started gradually declining from 2006 to 2008 – a slight decline of .5%. Not surprising that the increase coincides with the time artificial soft drinks were introduced.
We do not consume any soda in our house, so this doesn’t apply to me. But when I see a pregnant woman gulping down a can of this toxic stuff, I really want to tell her this. So if you’re that woman, now you know! Please be kind to your unborn baby and your body.
Photo: Karen Andrews
We don’t drink soda of any kind in our house either. It makes me sad that people are so dependent on chemically processed food and drinks that they do not give them up while pregnant. Being pregnant myself, I could not imagine downing a soda, Diet or otherwise.
The other thing that makes me sad is people who cannot give up addictions, especially while pregnant, I saw an obviously pregnant woman smoking cigarettes the other day, it broke my heart.
Thanks for your comments Wendy, belladune, and Jennifer! Yes, I bet so many illnesses can be partly blamed on this stuff, it is scary how many millions of gallons of diet soda Americans consume every day! The word ‘diet’ is so misleading.
Thank goodness my OB told me to stay away from those things when I got pregnant five years ago! Hate that stuff – although I do believe it’s days are numbered. Not sure why it’s taking them so long to remove it though. My husband loves Coke Zero and it doesn’t matter how many articles I show him on the dangers of that stuff he still drinks it because it’s zero calories. Ugh!
I knew all along that stuff was poison!! How scary to actually have evidence of it being harmful to unborn children. Scarier yet, is that the over all health of the US and Canada is actually quite poor. Anything artificial should be banned from the food we consume, and I bet all these “mysterious” illnesses nearly disappear.
I loathe diet sodas. They taste like you are drinking chemicals. That being said, we do have soda at our house BUT, the kids don’t drink it and we only have one about every two weeks. My oldest doesn’t like soda, any of it, and my youngest is still a baby. I see the moms and kids drinking this stuff like it is water and then everyone wonders why the kids are overweight and having health problems. Scary. Thanks for sharing the information!