Aspartame is Safe for Your Baby!

“Let us make pregnancy an occasion when we appreciate our female bodies.” -Merete Leonhardt-Lupa
Pregnancy is a memorable turning point in a woman’s life. During this period, you’ll feel different types of emotions. Your fast changing mood can be unreasonable and surprising, even to you. In addition, you may be extra sensitive, as if the world has no choice but to give what you want. One particular area that’ll be greatly affected is your choice of food. You’d feel an intense preference for sweets!
More sweets please!
This intense yearning for sweet food is normal for expectant mothers. You’ll experience it on the third trimester of your pregnancy. If you already like sweets before, you’ll notice that your craving will double during pregnancy. This is because your body is working harder for you and your baby.
While you want your requests to be satisfied quickly, you should remind yourself that taking too much sugar won’t do you any good. It can make you overweight (which you’ll regret after giving birth), or worse, make you diabetic.
Artificial sweeteners?
Fortunately, there are artificial sweeteners to keep your life sweet! You can use this as a replacement for sugar. These food additives are present in many beverages. They offer the same sweetness as that of sugar (even more!), without the added calories. Although these sugar substitutes faced many controversies upon its introduction, health authorities have approved its use, concluding it does no harm to the human body especially to pregnant women.
Is it safe to use during pregnancy?
A study from the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health concluded that using aspartame while pregnant poses no risk to the fetus. It explained:
“The low-calorie sweetening agent, aspartame, is broken down in the small intestine into three moieties: aspartic acid, methanol and phenylalanine… No evidence of risk to the fetus was developed. Aspartate does not readily cross the placenta… Aspartame in abuse doses up to 200 mg/kg in normal subjects, or to 100 mg/kg in PKU heterozygotes, did not raise blood phenylalanine levels to the range generally accepted to be associated with mental retardation in the offspring.”
Enjoy pregnancy by indulging in the food you love! Visit sweeteners.org to know more about aspartame.