@hisbody From what I know, stevia is a natural zero calorie sweetener so it’s not artificial just not sugar! It’s my favorite sweetener and I choose it whenever possible. My second is Splenda. I have no idea if either are ok or not, but the fact that they haven’t been talked about as being warned about, I will assume they are safe and will continue to consume!
@hisbody I remember reading that aspartame based sweeteners are now officially categorized as possibly carcinogenic. So I avoid when possible - but I wouldn’t worry if it’s something you enjoy in moderation. My biggest challenge in avoiding them is they seem to be in all decent tasting protein powders.
@millerw Sugar causes tumours to grow faster. Cancer cells use like 200 times more sugar than natural cells. Aspartame is only a potential carcinogen. The sun is also pretty good at causing cancer. Everything in moderation and you’ll probably be fine.
@millerw They are only carcinogenic when consumed in super huge quantities, we're talking like liters and liters of coke zero a day. In normal amounts, like one or two drinks a day (which you might still want to limit if they have caffeine anyways), they are not carcinogenic
@reedaa32 I'm in the same boat trying to get enough protein in my third trimester and the protein powder I chose ended up having stevia but I don't ever hear anything good about it anymore. It's been hard enough to stay away from folic acid.
@hisbody Stevia and monk fruit are extracts from plants, but they’re usually mixed with sugar alcohols to taste more like sugar. I avoided them during pregnancy and honestly I don’t ever eat artificial sweeteners except in the occasional diet soda.
@hisbody My OB advised against artificial sweeteners in pregnancy, just because there’s not a lot of studies on them for pregnant women. She is overly cautious about a lot of things though imo, which isn’t a bad thing, but I still try to limit my intake of them due to personal preference. It’s not the end of the world for me to have something with an artificial sweetener, and most studies online say they’re fine in moderation (during and not during pregnancy), but I think it’s really just a preference thing at the end of the day.
@hisbody I’ve been drinking a Diet Coke daily, it’s the only thing that cut through the nausea in first trimester and the only thing that seems to fully quench my thirst now. Then I read this paper linking aspartame with autism risk and have been feeling guilty since. If anyone has seen research that debunks this, please point me in its direction!