Coke Zero in pregnancy

[1111hope]

Hi, I’m 5w4d pregnant, I do love to drink Coke Zero, before pregnancy I would drink probably 3 cans a day but I’ve read studies of kids having autism, early labour all linked to aspartame in Coke Zero. I also read that Acesulfame K which is in Robinsons juice is just as bad. I’ve limited myself to 1 Coke Zero a day and 1 robinsons cup a day but I want to reduce this more based on what I’ve read and then I’m drinking water which is usually ok but the taste is not right lately don’t ask why.

has anyone drank lots of diet soda when pregnant and been ok? Can you also recommend anything other than water (I don’t really like herbal teas only have mint occasionally when I have an upset tummy)

thank you!

@1111hope i went from full fat coke to Diet Coke when I was pregnant and now got 6 month old healthy twins

I like the decaf coke zero. A cold cup helped me push baby to move when I hadn't felt a movement in a while.

Not diet, I don't drink any diet low or no sugar drinks, because of all the crap in them, but something like a good quality ginger cordial with fizzy water is lovely in pregnancy. I also love lemon and ginger tea.

Yes I used to drink diet colas etc when pregnant, in moderation probably about 2-3 cans. It has less caffeine than coffee in any case! Mine are teens/pre-teens now and no probs at all, touch wood.

Diet coke does not cause autism 🙄🙄

Only thing about coke is watching your caffeine intake. I drank diet juices during pregnancy with no issues.

@Twimum23 how many cans did you drinks a day xx

@Outliers oh wow that’s great! I live in Gibraltar and haven’t seen the decaf Coke Zero here sadly xx

Thanks everyone! I’ll try cutting down still but glad here you didn’t have any problems xx

Can you have fruit juice topped up with sparking mineral water? That has to be the most refreshing option.

There is absolutely no actual link between aspartame and autism. Correlation is not causation. Aspartame does not cause autism. Autism is mostly genetic.

It's the caffeine that's the issue, not the sweeteners. Caffeine is proven to cause issues in pregnancy if reguarly consumed above certain quantities. Make sure you're not consuming more than 200mg of caffeine in total per day and you'll be fine.

I have been drinking coke zero as normal in pregnancy! Keeping withint the caffeine limits.

There is zero proof that anything specific "causes" autism.

I read up on this before actually, because I love diet coke as well. The reason why coke or diet coke is advised against in pregnancy is because of the caffeine in it. One can of coke has 42mg, it's not much and one can technically won't hurt you, but the problem is that caffeine can contribute to miscarriage. I've seen my friends miscarry several times for various reasons and that was enough for me to not take any chances with my first pregnancy. So I decided to just not take cola with caffeine in it. The previous day, before I stopped consuming cola I had bought ginger & lemongrass tea for the nausea. On the same evening after having consumed about 4 cups of this tea during the day I had period like cramps and what looked like about to start spotting.
Afterwards I read on the internet that the opinions on lemongrass vary as some say it's fine, some say it can contribute to miscarriage, as doesn't have enough studies to proove it does contribute to miscarriage. Apparently it naturally has something in it that makes our uterus contract and can bring on a period. I stopped consuming it and the cramps disappeared. That was enough for me to decide that I do not care what the odds are and I do not want to explore the possibilities. So I took the same approach with cola.

@Xur You can have up to 200mg of caffeine daily, so you can have a few cans, if you dont also have loads of tea and coffee.

Why risk it? Just go without for 9 months, it isn't that hard. Coke of any form has so much crap in it, why would you want to pass that onto your baby

I used to drinkdecent (no additives) cordial like Belvoir made up with sparkling water.

Tasted much nicer than coke and doesn't have all the fake additives.

Also enjoyed ice cold alcohol free beer when everyone else was having a drink,

I saw a video about UPFs , specifically coke and how it actually raises blood sugar levels despite being "healthy" and sugar free and the scientists are starting to agree that it's as a result of bodily stress. Somewhat coincidentally, I drunk a huge amount of coke over one weekend away, around 4-5 litres over the weekend and ended up with a kidney infection that caused infected gout in my hip joint that required surgery. I've not touched a single drop of artificial sweetened drinks since then and I am one of the few people that hasn't had a second/follow on attack of gout within6 months, and I'm not medicated for it either. And I feel SO much better 8 months on.

I know, read the rest of the message though.

I am not over cautious with things in pregnancy but am trying to limit coke zero because there’s so many mystery ingredients in it. I completely understand water not tasting right at the moment - I have found grapfruit juice really nice at the moment, bizarrely. Topped with coconut water. I try to limit cokes to 1-2 a week, and also liked the Wholegood ‘organic’ coke (less mystery ingredients)

I wouldn't drink it, especially in pregnancy. We don't know the full effects of artificial sweeteners yet. I did a lot of reading up about it when I was pregnant and if I remember Aspartame and Acesulfame K are the main ones to avoid. I recommend rocks orange cordial for a soft drink.

The rest of the message has nothing to do with caffeine.
OVER 200mg of caffeine MIGHT be related to miscarriage. Not ANY AMOUNT of caffeine.
Science is important in its entirety, not just parts of it!

artificial sweeteners have been around for decades now. We do know the full effects, and they dont really exist.
They arent new..

Absolutely this.

Diet Coke does not cause any neurodivergence at all.

i Think it’ll be more the sugar intake I’d be concerned with.

i did have lemon and half a tea spoon of honey every so often if you can’t handle taste of water.

Hi , looking to see if someone can give me some advice on my pregnancy and when ruffly I would have fell pregannt. I done pregnancy tests on 23rd of December and clear blue was 1-2 weeks , I had a scan on last week and they said I’m roughly maybe 4 and a half to 5 and a half. Would this mean I fell pregnant at the start or December? I’m worried incase it’s from the 16th of November , which wouldn’t be to my current partner. So worried