Ep. 10: Does artificial sweetener use in pregnancy affect babies?

Do you use artificial sweeteners? Did you use them while you were pregnant? In our quest to curb sugar, we've moved towards a high use of these sweeteners without necessarily thinking about the effects. This week I had the chance to chat with Dr. Meghan Azad, a lead researcher in the field of understanding the effects of artificial sweeteners (or non-nutritive sweeteners as I learned they should be called) to talk about the effects of their use in pregnancy on our babies - yes, our babies! Our discussion was based on a series of papers she's published which you can check out below. For more information on Dr. Azad's work and lab (and I hope to get her on again to talk about her breastfeeding work!), please check out her site here: https://www.azadlab.ca/ Relevant articles: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19490976.2020.1857513 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41366-020-0575-x https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/10/2/194 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2521471

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The Evolutionary Parenting Podcast with Tracy Cassels, PhD focuses on topics and research relevant to parents today. Using developmental psychology, biology, anthropology, and evolution as a basis for all discussion, the podcast explores parenting issues like sleep (including sleep training, co-sleeping, and bedsharing), breastfeeding and feeding, discipline, and more. Tracy interviews both professionals who are in the parenting world and researchers whose research is relevant to today's parents. For parents who want to understand how our children have evolved to develop, how we as parents can help them thrive, and the role of science in all of this.