Drinking diet sodas and aspartame-sweetened beverages daily during pregnancy linked to autism in male offspring - UT Health San Antonio
news.uthscsa.edu
Contact: Steven Lee, (210) 450-3823, [email protected] SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 20, 2023 – A new published study led by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) has found an association between autism diagnosis in boys and daily consumption of either diet soda or a comparable amount of […]
  • gibmiser@lemmy.worldEnglish
    19·
    9 months ago

    Edit: welp, looks like the study has serious problems. They got me. Thanks poster below for pointing me to the discussion.

    Sample size of 235 mothers of autistic kids and 121 mothers without. Self report from mothers of daily aspertime consumption. Daily consumption was three times more common in the mothers of autistic children than the control group.

    If it can be replicated then this seems like pretty compelling evidence. Get ready for the class action lawsuits…

    • wahming@monyet.ccEnglish
      6·
      9 months ago

      The hacker news discussion and a linked r/science discussion within are ripping this study to bits, apparently it’s full of flaws.

  • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
    4·
    9 months ago

    Hereditary. But I guess people will continue to delude themselves that they don’t have a family history of autism.

  • photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    24·
    9 months ago

    You’d think it’d be a no-brainer to reduce junk food consumption during pregnancy. I know you get cravings but you don’t need soda every day anyway.

    • LastYearsPumpkin@feddit.chEnglish
      6·
      9 months ago

      Reality isn’t always obvious. Pregnant people of all lifestyles listen to opinions, doctors, media, and do the best they can with the information they have. The mainstream opinion has been that diet sodas are healthier than high sugar sodas, and there was no reason to think it would lead to poor health outcomes for mother or child.

      People who drank regular sodas daily probably thought switching to diet soda would be the healthier option, and may have switched as a way to keep their routine while staying a little healthier. Nobody told them this was a bad idea, because nobody new it was a bad idea.

      This type of comment is blaming the victim for not having information that didn’t exist.