Sugary drinks during pregnancy increases asthma risk – Study

by Staff writer

There are already plenty of things pregnant women are advised not to take — alcohol, sushi, soft cheese, raw eggs, caffeine, peanuts — but it seems it might be time to add soda to that list.

It’s no secret that sugar-sweetened drinks aren’t exactly the healthiest things to take, but new research now suggests that drinking sugary drinks during pregnancy can increase your child’s asthma risk later on in childhood.

A recent study published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society found that the likelihood that a child will develop asthma between the ages of 7 and 9 is higher if their mother drank sugary drinks while pregnant, or if the child themselves consumed sugary drinks during early childhood.

And given that it’s certainly not the first study to suggest that sugar consumption during pregnancy probably isn’t a good idea, it seems there’s good reason to start avoiding soda— or at least cut back as much as possible.

The study, led by Harvard Medical School researchers Sheryl L. Rifas-Shiman and Dr. Lakiea S. Wright, looked at the food and beverage consumption of 1,068 mother-child pairs, first during the mother’s first and second trimester, and again when the child reached 3 years old.

Given that sugar-sweetened beverages and high fructose intake is already known to increase the risk of childhood obesity — which, in itself is a risk factor for asthma — it was reasonable to expect that there would be a connection.

But what the researchers actually found was that consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with childhood asthma development, regardless of whether or not the child was also overweight.

Still wondering when to start swapping all those them Diet Coke with water?

The answer is NOW!