Eating too much sugar during pregnancy could affect your child's intelligence and memory, a new study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine has found.
The study, found that when pregnant women or their offspring consumed large quantities of sugar, more than 50 grams per day, children performed more poorly on cognition tests, particularly those related to memory or learning, according to the Daily Mail.
Substituting diet sodas for those containing real sugar was also associated with poor cognition. Conversely, fruit consumption in young children was linked to higher scores on the same kinds of tests.
Researchers examined data from more than 1,000 pregnant women between the years of 1999 and 2002, going on to assess their children's diets in early childhood (between the ages of 3 and 7).
The study found that consuming greater quantities of sugar was associated with poorer cognition in their children, including poorer problem-solving abilities, poorer verbal memory and "poorer global intelligence associated with both verbal knowledge and non-verbal skills". The association was even stronger specifically for consumers of sugar-sweetened drinks like sodas.
Lead researcher Juliana F.W. Cohen, ScD, School of Health Sciences, Merrimack College, North Andover, MA, and Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA told Science Daily that "the aim of [the] study was to examine associations of pregnancy and offspring sugar consumption (sucrose, fructose) with child cognition."
Overall, according to Science Daily, Cohen and her team recommend that pregnant women consume more fruits and less processed sugar during pregnancy, as well as avoid diet soda. Children, too, should follow these recommendations early on for the sake of their cognitive ability.
The researchers suggested that consuming less sugar and diet drinks during pregnancy could have a meaningful and positive impact on your child's health and during their early years, children should eat whole fruit instead of just consuming the high-sugar juice to help improve cognition.
