Can I take artificial sweeteners when pregnant?

Ques­tion: I am try­ing to main­tain a healthy weight when preg­nant, can I take sugar sub­sti­tutes like aspar­tame and saccharin?

Answer

You will find sweet­en­ers in many diet ready meals, snacks, drinks and also in chew­able vit­a­min supplements. Although research indi­cates that sweet­en­ers are safe, some research on sugar sub­sti­tutes is incon­clu­sive and many Mind­ful Mum’s avoid the use of arti­fi­cial sweet­en­ers com­pletely dur­ing preg­nancy. In the UK the use of sweet­en­ers is con­trolled by the Food Stan­dards Agency which allow five licensed arti­fi­ical sweeteners:

Aspar­tame (E951)
Sac­cha­rin (E954)
Ace­sul­fame potas­sium (ace­sul­fame K or E950)
Cycla­mate (cyclamic acid or E952)
Sucralose

Aspar­tame (Nutrasweet, Canderel)

Aspar­tame is around 200 times sweeter than sugar and is used in more than 4,000 prod­ucts, includ­ing diet drinks, cereal bars, yogurt and chew­ing gum. It’s report­edly used in Diet Coke, Wrigley’s chew­ing gum and Can­darel. Some peo­ple com­plain they develop headaches, dizzi­ness, vom­it­ing, diar­rhoea and fatigue after eat­ing food con­tain­ing the chemical. The FSA called for vol­un­teers to test the side-effects of aspar­tame in 2009. The study is expected to be com­pleted in 2010 and will be pub­lished as a report to the FSA.

A spokesman for the agency said: “We know that aspar­tame can be con­sumed safely but some peo­ple con­sider that they react badly to it. We’ve com­mis­sioned this research because it’s impor­tant to increase our knowl­edge about what is hap­pen­ing. The study will address con­sumer con­cerns, includ­ing these anec­do­tal reports.”

The research is incon­clu­sive and although some GPs may con­sider it harm­less, oth­ers sug­gest preg­nant women are cau­tions until more is known about this sweet­ner. Women with the rare inher­ited dis­or­der phenylke­tonuria (PKU) or high lev­els of pheny­lala­nine in their blood (a con­di­tion called hyper­pheny­lala­nine are advised never to use aspartame.

Sac­cha­rin (Swee­tex, Sweet n’ Low and Natrena)

Ani­mal stud­ies show an increase in can­cer in the off­spring of preg­nant ani­mals who ingest large quan­ti­ties of the chem­i­cal. Although humans are dif­fer­ent from rats and sim­i­lar risks to human remain unclear many cau­tious mum’s pre­fer to min­imise or cut out sac­cha­rin usage com­pletely dur­ing preg­nancy. It was banned in Canada in 1997, until recently car­ried a warn­ing label in the States and there are legal lim­its on the lev­els that may be used in soft drinks because it’s been linked with blad­der can­cer in lab­o­ra­tory exper­i­ments. The UK Government’s daily limit is just under half a gramme for an adult weigh­ing 10-12st.

Acesulfame-K (or ace­sul­fame potassium)

This is 200 times sweeter than sugar and is approved for use in baked goods, gelatin, desserts, chew­ing gum and soft drinks. It has been per­mit­ted for use in Europe since 1983 — has also trou­bled some sci­en­tists, who express con­cerns that in lab­o­ra­tory tests it pro­duces tumours in ani­mals. Again, the man­u­fac­tur­ers’ response is that is has been repeat­edly cer­ti­fied safe by reg­u­la­tors (includ­ing JECFA) for human consumption.

Cycla­mate

Cycla­mate is 30 – 50 times sweeter than sugar (depend­ing on con­cen­tra­tion; it is not a lin­ear rela­tion­ship), mak­ing it the least potent of the com­mer­cially used arti­fi­cial sweet­en­ers. Cycla­mate has been linked with dam­age to fer­til­ity and the Food Stan­dards Agency has advised par­ents to limit the con­sump­tion of drinks con­tain­ing this. Found com­monly in bud­get squashes and is often labelled as cyclamic acid or E952.

Sucralose (Splenda)

You can sweeten cof­fee or tea with sucralose, use it in cook­ing and bak­ing. This new­comer, known as Splenda, is made from sugar through a chem­i­cal process that boosts the flavour by a stag­ger­ing 600 per cent. It’s found in Ocean Spray cran­berry drink. However, the prod­uct is rel­a­tively new with lit­tle long term research to con­firm that it is safe, so use in moderation.

Nat­ural Sweeteners

• Lac­tose is a milk sugar that is one sixth as sweet as table sugar. It is safe for mums that are not lac­tose intolerant.
• Honey is a good sugar sub­sti­tute but it is not low calorie.
• Fruit juice con­cen­trates are a safe alter­na­tive to sugar dur­ing pregnancy.

References
FSA, Eat well, be Well, Terms on Labels, What are aspartame and saccharin?
The Guardian, Aspartame Side Effects, FSA Calls on Volunteers, 2009
The Scotsman, Sweeteners that leave a sour taste,2008
WDDTY, Aspartame: some bitter truths  

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