SAN ANTONIO — A new study from researchers here in San Antonio found a link between autism diagnosis and consumption of either diet soda or comparable amounts of aspartame by their mothers during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
The study was from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.
The research found that boys diagnosed with autism were more than three times as likely as neurotypically developing boys to have been born to mothers who reported drinking one of more servings per day of diet soda or similar aspartame amounts during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
The research found there was no statistically significant association for girls.
“These associations do not prove causality, but taken in concert with reports from earlier studies of increased prematurity and cardiometabolic health impacts among infants and children exposed daily to diet beverages and/or aspartame during pregnancy, our findings raise new questions about potential neurological impacts that need to be addressed,” said Raymond F. Palmer, PhD, senior author of the paper, and professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UT Health San Antonio.
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