phenylalanine in caffeine free diet coke

[laura2109]

Hey ladies,

I'm 37 weeks and have been craving coke for a few weeks now. All the caffeine made me sleep deprived so decided to buy caffeine free diet coke. A warning on the label says that it contains phenylalanine, googled it and apparently if levels get too high it can increase chances of birth defects. Anyone has experience with this coke?

I drank this through pregnancy only had one a day and my baby is fine. I think it will be everything in moderation but if in doubt you only have 3 weeks (hopefully) left so might be a case of waiting if you are worried. I would do what you think is best. I never knew this but if I did I probably would of dogged it out till I gave birth. X

I’m pretty sure the risks are tiny and at 37 weeks your baby is done and good to go so I’d definitely be having the Diet Coke. San Pellegrino orange was my fizz of choice if you want an alternative

It's shocking they'd put stuff like that in a drink, in fact most ingredients in coke is just a list of unpronounceable chemicals. But, I won't lie for the last time tonight, I indulged and enjoyed my last can of regular coke, it was delicious! That's it though, I officially quit! I wasn't even a fan of it before pregnancy. I've look up the San pellegrino drink, definitely sounds like something I can enjoy guilt free ingredients wise, thanks!

Phenylalanine is an amino acid - a naturally occuring "building block " of many proteins including eggs, all animal milks including human breastmilk, many meats and soya protein.
The only reason foods are labelled as containing phenylalanine, or substances which are metabolised to it is because there is a rare genetic condition called phenylketonuria (PKU). Affected individuals don't make an enzyme involved in the metabolism of phenylalanine and they need to minimise how much they consume. The wording on the can is a legal requirement to protect people with this disorder.
Babies are screened soon after birth in this country to rule out PKU - its one of the things checked for in the heel prick that midwives or HV s do on mew babies. If you don't have PKU, phenylalanine is nothing at all to be afraid of. There are lots of other reasons why you might want to avoid lots of soft drinks of course.

I had a can of Coke Zero once a day through pregnancy - I'd been a hardened caffeine addict pre-pregnancy and I felt this was the right balance between quitting completely (which would have made concentrating at work in the morning really hard) and the risk caffeine poses.

I did a lot of reading/research first though, to make sure the risk was low, which it is.

Oh - I should add that I was most dismayed to realise that there's caffeine in chocolate. It's obvious, when you think about it, but . . . well, I hadn't