It's been common knowledge for quite some time that during pregnancy, women need to take certain precautions. These precautions remain necessary for not just the woman's unborn child, but also the woman herself as her body and hormones adjust to growing new life within her body.

Ideally, everyone wants their child to be healthy when they're born. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case. Some babies have health issues that manifest right away, whereas other problems in children aren't readily apparent until years later.

To this day, the medical community continues its studies into various medical diagnoses and their underlying causes. In the latest development, one study is now connecting pregnant women's consumption of various diet sodas to the later development of autism in boys.

The case-control study worth being aware of

According to University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio researchers, 235 parents with autistic kids and 121 parents of kids without autism were reviewed.

When these parents were questioned on their consumption of diet sodas (or the artificial sweetener known as aspartame) during pregnancy and breastfeeding, researchers discovered a very interesting pattern.

Consumption of the aforementioned sodas directly revealed that boys whose mothers drank these beverages were three times more likely to have autism than boys whose mothers didn't consume diet soda during pregnancy or breastfeeding.

Interestingly enough, however, no such correlation exists when factoring in girls whose pregnant or breastfeeding mothers drank diet soda.

More research from the medical community

In light of these findings, medical officials continue to encourage ongoing research. This will ultimately reveal more information, including additional factors that could cause autism in young boys. Other details about girls with autism may even emerge amid further review.

In the meantime, due to aspartame's regular presence within diet sodas, mothers remain advised to be careful with these drinks while pregnant or breastfeeding.

It's also worth noting that earlier this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned aspartame may play a role in cancer development. Thus far, the medical community has not definitively said this artificial sweetener causes cancer.

Though with more studies later down the line, anything could potentially come to light.