OK Ladies,

What’s the verdict on using stevia during pregnancy? Xylitol? They’re the only sweeteners I use. I hear conflicting things about using either while pregnant or trying to conceive.

I want to try to avoid artificial sweeteners while pregnant, even though I know they’re thought to be safe. Besides, Splenda does not always agree with me.

Thanks a bunch!

Stevia's fine while pregnant. I don't know about Xylitol.

From all the research that I've done so far I have learned that xylitol is made from sugar alcohol which promotes fermentation in the intestines and feed the bad bacteria, so I wouldn't use any of the -ols. As for stevia, there is not enough convincing research about it's safety. I read that it's molecular structure is very similar to steroids. So I would use it with caution. Splenda is not very good for you either. I don't remember exactly why but something has to do with the chlorine in it. I think honey is safe in very small amounts or my second choice would be stevia. Right now I don't use any of them. I'm breastfeeding. The first few days were hard without tasting anything sweet but now I'm Ok. I will, in a few weeks try to add stevia and honey to my diet, just to bake something.

Hi All!

Thank you so much for the helpful replies. ‘Very useful information.


I had not heard this before about the molecular structure of stevia. That’s good to know.

At the moment, I think I’ll be using crystalline fructose (about 20 on the glycemic index) instead of stevia or xylitol prior to and during pregnancy.

Again, thank you for the information!

Just to add a small footnote, there's xylitol in a lot of toothpastes, but I wouldn't worry about it unless you eat a lot of toothpaste.

What To Expect While You're Expecting says that sugar alcohols (including sorbitol, maltitol and xylitol) are safe in moderation during pregnancy. So are Splenda and Stevia, according to the book. I personally used Splenda liberally while pregnant and aspartame and sugar alcohols only two or three servings a week.

I wouldn't trust one single thing in that blasted book, but that's just me.

Personally, I had to use sugar while I was pregnant because anything else made me sick to my stomach. (Which is odd, because that's usually what sugar does with me!) I imagine crystalline fructose is a much better substitute; don't know why it never occurred to me to try it. I did use stevia on occasion, and do now while I'm nursing, but I don't honestly care for it much.

You'd probably do best over all to try to reduce your consumption of sweets. Easier said than done, of course, especially if you get those horrid cravings like I always do.

Myself, I'm trying to avoid sweets but I allow some crap on weekends. A little sugar seems okay, but white flour disagrees with me big time.

I do allow a daily chocolate ration though - 1 oz or so of good 70% or higher chocolate.

Personally I wouldn't be that worried about artificial sweeteners, if they agree with you. I don't think I could stand the gas from maltitol, though, and Splenda has never really agreed with me much by itself.

Incidentally, in my post above about toothpaste I didn't mean to imply that anyone should worry about xylitol - it's a pretty good choice. Just that if you are trying to avoid xylitol, don't worry about the xylitol in your toothpaste. It's perfectly fine for your teeth.

On the www.breakingtheviciouscycle.com website, in the FAQ section you'll find a lot of useful info on the different foods and sweeteners. It's designed for the specific carbohydrate diet (for IBD, Chron's and celiac people), so when they talk about legal and illegal foods, they talk about what is allowed or not, but the lady who came up with it is (was) a biochemist and seems to know a lot about these things.
In a nutshell:
stevia is discouraged for lack of research plus the molecules resembling steroids
sugar alcohols are not OK, they feed bad bacteria
aspartame is not OK
splenda(sucralose) is not OK, it has chlorine and feeds bad bacteria
saccharin is OK despite the popular belief
honey is OK if you're not a diabetic
Crystalline fructose is not OK as they mix it with other sugars, it's not pure fructose
Pure fructose is only on fruits
hope this helps