Just how bad is diet coke when pregnant ??

[peppermintpig]

I have never drunk diet coke and generally eat/drink very healthily and don't drink coke or any fizzy drinks as tend to avoid any chemicals. However I've developed a craving for diet coke and have had 4 or 5 cans a week...mentioned this to a couple of friends who were horrified. Now feeling terrible. They said I should have drunk full fat if anything and just saw this mentioned on another thread which promoted me to post.

What's the story, does anyone know specifically what problems it might cause ? I haven't seen it listed on any 'banned' food lists. Ofcourse am happy to fight the craving now but am 36 weeks so can only really worry rather than act!

I really don't understand what the problem is, pg women are not told to avoid artificial sweetener and caffeine is OK in moderation. Therefore, unless you are drinking 5+ cans a day get off the guilt trip. People who are self righteous about diet coke are the ones who don't like it!

Diet coke hasn't got that much caffeine in. I think the guidelines are 2 mugs of tea per day, or 4 cups - or I think it's 5 cans of coke. I love it but have weaned myself off it a bit. I alternate between sparkling water and lemonade now. But in the first trimester when I felt nauseous, it really helped. I didn't have tons, but a few. x

The guidance depends on when your booking appointment was - they changed it downwards in November. I think it is now 200mg instead of 300 and coke has 50mg in a can. It's about the same as tea but less than coffee.

its the caffeine you need to watch, but to be honest you may eat/drink things throughout your pregnancy which aren't the healthest things in the world (sudders at the memory of hotdog phase)

Diet drinks often have more caffeine than full fat. Pepsi max is worse than diet coke though

Meaning full sugar iyswim

I had a whole week when all I could stomach was Margherita pizza. Very balanced! I actually completely went off diet coke at the start.

Try not to worry too much, I was put on a low GI (sugar) diet for the first 28 days of this pg and was recommended diet coke!

The issues with Coke are far broader than sugar/saccharine etc and caffeine, although that's probably enough to be getting on with.

One of the most insidious problems is the phosphate content which literally sucks the calcium out of you - which at a time when babies are doing the same is not a good idea. There is huge concern that a new generation of coke guzzling teenage girls are going to have the dowager humps /extreme end of osteoporosis on a big scale that we have seen disappear in the last 50 years with better nutrition.

So, if you're on a coke trip (a tame one anyway), as I am (I'm anti and I like drinking it!)... please make sure you keep up a really high calcium diet/supplementation, it really makes a difference.

I had first stage osteo. before I had DS and spent all my pg. madly increasing my intake, so it stayed the same level it was to start with. This time I'm drinking a little coke and not really supplementing, so I'll let you know the outcome of my recklessness!

BTW, if you're going to take a Ca tablet, do it separately from your pg. vitamins if you can.

J

PS and now for the science bit..
www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118500501/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/84/4/936

www.springerlink.com/content/h72ntw40g1447171/

www.medscape.com/viewarticle/463097

There's a ton more, but I need to go to bed.

That is true but all fizzy drinks take calcium out of your bones, including sparkling mineral water.

Possibly coke is worse than this, but probably not if someone thinks that another fizzy drink is completely safe and guzzles loads of it.

Im 20 years old and this is my first baby so im kind of worried about everything lol
but i drunk loads of diet coke before i found out i was pregnant and i as soon as i found out i was pregnant i stopped and then i started drinking a 500ml bottle of diet coke a week but now i feel like im craving it and i don't know how much i am allowed or anything.
can someone give me advise please?

5 x 330ml cans a day if you have no other forms of caffeine (tea, coffee, choc)

I just can't get my head around why people think that drinking full sugar coke is better than diet coke. We KNOW how bad sugar is for us. Aspartame only has the tin foil hat wearers frothing-it's everywhere so I wouldn't like trying to exclude it unless I had plenty of time on my hands.

35 grams of sugar per can. 35. That's bad for you.

I am addicted to the stuff. Last pregnancy i askedmy consultant and she said not to overdo caffeine but otherwise no problem!

It's fine. Diet coke is not the devil's work as many would have you believe

A family I know has a child that has been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and multiple autoimmune problems. The mother drank copious amounts of diet coke during the pregnancy (even more so after someone suggested that it may not be a good idea). With her second child she didn't drink diet coke, had become far more educated on the importance of nutrition and the child has no problems. I would really like to know if anyone else has experienced this?

ZOMBIE THREAD...

You may be better starting a new thread for responses

I drank diet energy drinks throughout both pregnancies and was prescribed dihydrocodeine until week 36 with my second child (PGP). There is so much scaremongering out there regarding pregnancy and what will potentially harm a baby. Use your instinct: ignore the nanny state nutters.

Diet Coke has less caffeine than a cup of coffee. (About 46mg of caffeine in a can of Diet Coke and about 94mg in a cup of coffee). The recommended daily limit during pregnancy is 200mg, so in theory you could have several cans per day without any risk to your pregnancy. The sweeteners in Diet Coke are also believed to be harmless - despite all the scaremongering on the Internet - but they haven't been fully tested to determine whether they are safe in pregnancy yet so it is probably best to stay away from them. I have been drinking Diet Coke to help with pregnancy-related migraines but I only allow myself a few sips as needed. Hopefully I will be able to give it up completely soon.

I used to drink between 10-18 cans a day. Then cut to 4 ish. Since being pregnant I have, 2 maximum. I asked mw and she said. They recommend no more than 5 a day. But that's if you don't have any other caffeine. I drink de cafes tea. Don't drink coffee and have gone off chocolate so I know my caffeine is ok

My mum drank it by the gallon load when pregnant with me in the 1980's and i worked out KO ;)

I think everything in moderation.

I have a single can of Coke Zero most days. I don't consider it a big deal.