In a recent study published in Nutrients, researchers investigated the potential link between maternal consumption of diet sodas or aspartame during pregnancy and the risk of autism in offspring. The study, known as the Autism Tooth Fairy Study, included 356 children, with 235 diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and 121 serving as controls. 

The study focused on two main objectives: identifying autism disorders and assessing the type of ASD. It placed particular emphasis on evaluating early-life exposure of offspring to aspartame and other non-nutritive sweeteners. 

The researchers observed that early dietary sweetener (DSearly) and aspartame (ASPearly) exposures in males showed a noticeable increase in exposure frequency as the severity of the diagnostic category increased, peaking among non-regressive autism cases. The findings showed that around 23.3% of males with non-regressive autism were exposed to ASPearly and 22.1% to DSearly, compared to just 7.4% of controls. Such patterns were not observed in females.

Furthermore, males with autism had tripled odds of DSearly exposure, particularly among non-regressive cases, while no such correlations were observed for females or ASD. Similarly, ASPearly exposures increased with the severity of diagnosis in males. However, as with DSearly, no significant links were observed between ASPearly exposure and total ASD in boys or any ASD-related diagnoses in girls.

The study also investigated general non-nutritive sweetener (NNS) consumption. Although daily early-life exposures to aspartame showed higher odds ratios concerning the severity of diagnosis, these did not reach statistical significance. This suggests that only high daily doses of either DS or aspartame may be associated with autism in boys, but lower doses do not appear to have a significant impact.

(Source:https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230901/Link-between-daily-diet-soda-and-aspartame-intake-in-early-life-with-autism-in-males.aspx#:~:text=In%20the%20present%20study%20examining%20maternal%20intake%20of,only%2017%25%20of%20autism%20cases%20in%20this%20study.)