zlacker

>>geox+(OP)
I hazard a guess that the most popular diet soda is Diet Coke, which contains significantly more caffeine than regular Coke. Even if there is a causal link between autism in the son and diet soda consumption in the mother, jumping to the conclusion that it is the fault of aspartame specifically seems dubious.

Additionally, do we know whether autistic people drink more diet soda than others? If autism is at least partly genetic, as it seems to be, then the mothers in the study might themselves be autistic or carriers of autism-linked genetic mutations.

I have read in prior research that overweight mothers are more likely to have autistic children. Another possibility is that being overweight is associated with frequent diet soda consumption, and it’s the mother being overweight that is more the issue than the soda consumption per se.

Anyway, I am not at all convinced of the implication that a mother drinking diet soda increases her child’s risk of autism, especially if the mother is at a healthy weight.

>>BadCoo+V9
>Diet Coke, which contains significantly more caffeine than regular Coke

It is true that Diet Coke has a higher caffeine content. Though I would not say it is significant:

A 12 oz. can of Coke contains 32 mg, Diet Coke contains 42 mg

A difference of 10 mg is not significant in this context.