XPost: alt.food.safety, alt.support.autism, sac.politics   
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   From: killer.chems@monsanto.com   
      
   AUSTIN (KXAN) – A team of researchers say they have observed a link   
   between autism diagnosis in boys and their mothers drinking at least one   
   diet soda daily or consuming an equivalent amount of the sweetener   
   aspartame during pregnancy or while breastfeeding, according to a new   
   study.   
      
   In the study, the researchers at the University of Texas Health Science   
   Center at San Antonio asked the parents of 235 children with an autism   
   spectrum disorder and 121 children without autism, who were the study’s   
   controls, to complete a retrospective questionnaire about their diet soda   
   and aspartame intake while pregnant or breastfeeding their children.   
      
   Researchers asked biological mothers, “While you were pregnant or   
   breastfeeding your child, how often did you drink diet drinks containing   
   artificial sweeteners? Please count diet sodas first, such as Diet Coke,   
   Diet Dr. Pepper, and Diet Sprite, and then other diet drinks, such as   
   Crystal Light, sugar-free Kool-Aid, Slim-Fast, and other ‘lite’ drinks.”   
      
   Note that not all diet beverages contain aspartame. The researchers did   
   not ask women to only think about aspartame-containing diet beverages they   
   consumed while pregnant or breastfeeding. However, all drinks listed in   
   the survey’s examples do contain aspartame.   
      
   The team found that boys with autism had more than three times the   
   likelihood of having a mother who drank diet soda daily while pregnant or   
   breastfeeding than boys without autism, per the findings, published in the   
   peer-reviewed journal Nutrients.   
      
   The researchers did not find a statistically significant association with   
   girls.   
      
   Why it’s more difficult to diagnose girls with autism than boys   
   “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   
   [or] aspartame during pregnancy, our findings raise new questions about   
   potential neurological impacts that need to be addressed,” Raymond F.   
   Palmer, author of the paper and professor in the Department of Family and   
   Community Medicine at UT Health San Antonio, said in a news release.   
      
   The study authors wrote that further research, including efforts with   
   larger sample sizes, should be conducted to continue to explore the link   
   between aspartame and developing autism.   
      
   Still, they conclude that mothers might exercise caution while pregnant or   
   breastfeeding when drinking diet sodas or consuming products with a   
   commensurate amount of aspartame.   
      
   These study results follow a June announcement from the World Health   
   Organization when they deemed aspartame a “possible” cause of cancer.   
   Still, WHO officials said they were not directing consumers to completely   
   cut out the sugar alternative but to practice moderation with products.   
      
   Following the WHO announcement, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,   
   which approved some consumption of aspartame in 1974, clarified that just   
   because the substance is “possibly carcinogenic” does not mean it is   
   linked to cancer.   
      
   https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4230350-study-finds-link-between-   
   drinking-some-diet-soda-during-pregnancy-and-autism-in-boys/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)