Can You Eat Artificial Sweeteners During Pregnancy?

Now you are pregnant and consuming nutritional diet is doubly important at this stage. Once you need to think about the effect of food choices that you made whether you are having a meal or grabbing a snack.

Among these, one major concern is regarding the artificial sweeteners and their use during pregnancy. Most of the women like to have foods and drinks that are artificially sweetened as a substitute for sugar.

Artificial Sweeteners During PregnancyYou can safely eat three types of artificial sweeteners such as sucralose, aspartame and saccharin. These are used as a substitute in various types of drinks and foods.

Here is the list about the effect of these three artificial sweeteners on your pregnancy:


This is made from sugar and it won’t add any calories because most of it remains undigested. FDA approved this sweetener to add in any type of food such as cookies, chewing gums and fruit juices. This can be safely used as a substitute for sugar in any type of food.


It consists of two amino acids, one is aspartic acid and the other is phenylalanine. It won’t cause any birth defects when used in moderate amounts.

If you have a genetic disease called phenylketonuria, then you should avoid this sweetener as it prevents you from breaking down the phenylalanine in your diet.

Not following the specific diet leads to the growth of phenylalanine in your body, this again leads to birth of a mentally retarded baby. Also, some of you are perceptive to aspartame and notice headache after having it.


Now this sweetener is greatly replaced by modern and better tasting ones. A research conducted on this sweetener confirmed that consuming saccharin more than six servings a day can cause bladder cancer. American pregnancy association told that saccharin can enter into the placenta and remain in the fetal tissues. So, the use of saccharin still remains as an issue.


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