Too much sugar while pregnant affects babies' intelligence and memory, study finds
Moms who love sweet things and have too much sugar intake while pregnant might impact their baby's brain and compromise their child's memory skills and intelligence, a new study has learned.
Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the experts found links between a pregnant mom's over-consumption of sugar and her child's mental performance.
Researchers looked into the dietary data of some 1,000 pregnant women and their kids from 1999 to 2002 and compared the children's cognitive development until they turned seven years old. The study highlighted that pregnant moms who consumed large amounts of sugar -- or more than 50 grams of sugar a day -- by drinking sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) have children with poor verbal memory, problem-solving abilities and decreased intelligence. A consumption of lower sugar alternatives like diet soda also showed similar results.
Sugar consumed directly from fruits, on the other hand, was associated with better memory and cognition, as well as improved visual motor abilities in children. Kids from ages three to seven years old who ate fruits regularly also showed better verbal intelligence compared to kids who drank sugar-filled juices. Researchers said that children also benefit from the phytochemicals found in eating fruits.
The study recommended that pregnant moms and growing children should consume more fruits and avoid food and drinks with processed sugar to help with the kids' cognitive ability.
"This study provides evidence that there should be no further delays in implementing the new Nutrition Facts label," study author Juliana Cohen said in a statement. "The new label will provide information on added sugars so that pregnant women and parents can make informed choices regarding added sugars and more easily limit their intake."
The effects of too much sugar while pregnant have also been previously studied among 1,078 mothers and their children in 2017. The experts found that over-consumption of sugar during pregnancy was a huge factor in childhood obesity.
