ATLANTA (February 10, 2014) — A British study of more than 8,000 women has found that consuming diet cola during pregnancy does not increase the risk of preterm birth.
The findings, which were published online January 8 in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, reaffirm the safety of diet beverages.
The study followed 8,191 pregnant women from the Born in Bradford study, a large long-term, multi-ethnic study which examined the impact of different factors on maternal and child health. Women were recruited from one hospital in the United Kingdom at 26-28 weeks of gestation. Following recruitment, women completed a survey documenting their consumption of diet cola over the past month.
Results of the study found that consumption of diet cola was not associated with increased risk of preterm delivery. There was also no relationship with increased risk at any consumption level. The authors concluded that, “Consumption of artificially-sweetened cola beverages were not associated with preterm birth.”