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Pooled review (meta-analysis)

Pooled review of 19 studies: sweeteners linked to preterm birth, not pregnancy weight gain

Gebremichael and colleagues · Clinical nutrition ESPEN · 2024

Original title: Effect of perinatal consumption of low-calorie sweetener on maternal health: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Mixed

Sweetener use was linked to 11% higher risk of preterm birth (RR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.07-1.16). No link to weight gain in pregnancy (SMD = 0.04; 95% CI: -0.17 - 0.24).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Pooled review (meta-analysis)
Who or what was studied
19 studies, 203,706 people · pregnant women in 19 studies
What was tested
Sweetener use in pregnancy compared with no use
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
Clinical nutrition ESPEN, 2024
Source
PubMed record 38954514. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Pools the results of 19 studies with 203,706 people.
  • •A pooled review is only as strong as the studies it pools.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

This paper is not on the ladder. It is a pooled review (meta-analysis), and reviews and opinion pieces discuss studies that are already counted on the steps below.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: body weight

    4

    1 benefit, 1 mixed, 2 no difference

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    7

    1 benefit, 1 mixed, 4 no difference, 1 harm

  4. Population studies

    5

    1 benefit, 4 harm

  5. Blood levels and genes

    1

    1 harm

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Do artificial sweeteners cause weight gain?”

Trials say no; population studies disagree.

Confidence: low. Based on 32 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer
  • Listed with the other papers, but not quoted in the page’s main findings.

Other reviews on this question

See all 32 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads agreed on every checked field. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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