Sugar in pregnancy

Most sugary foods and drinks are made with sucrose, otherwise known as table sugar. This form of sugar releases energy quickly, causing blood glucose to spike, triggering a rapid release of insulin to absorb it. You’ve probably experienced the boost of a sugar rush, which is generally followed by a dramatic slump in energy. Rather than keeping you going throughout the day, eating too much sugar when you’re pregnant can leave you feeling even more tired¹.

A low-sugar intake helps to keep your blood sugar more stable, along with your resulting energy levels² and is more likely to result in healthy pregnancy weight gain. Eating too much sugar when you’re pregnant may increase your risk of gestational diabetes³ and pre-eclampsia⁴ and increases the risk of your baby becoming overweight later in life².

The government recommends that free sugars – sugars added to food or drinks, and sugars found naturally in honey, syrups, and unsweetened fruit and vegetable juices - should not make up more than 5% of the calories you get from food and drink each day⁵. Pregnant women should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day, which is roughly equivalent to seven sugar cubes⁵. For instance, one can of cola can have up to nine sugar cubes which is more than the daily allowance⁵.

Free sugars are found in sweets, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, and some fizzy drinks and juice drinks. These are the sugary foods pregnant women should try to cut down on as part of a healthy pregnancy diet⁵.

This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy anything sweet. A healthier approach is to limit free sugars in your diet and replace them with naturally sweet, nutritious alternatives.

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes specific to pregnancy that tends to develop sometime after 20 weeks. It occurs when the body can’t produce enough insulin to regulate the level of glucose in the blood³.

The condition has been connected to a higher birth weight in babies, and pregnancy or birth complications³. Maintaining a healthy pregnancy weight with a low-sugar diet and regular exercise can help minimise your likelihood of developing this condition¹.

• Previously giving birth to a baby weighing more than 9.9lbs⁶
• Having gestational diabetes in the past⁶
• Having a sibling, parent or grandparent with diabetes⁶
• Being of south Asian, black Caribbean or Middle Eastern origin⁶

If your midwife thinks you are at a higher risk of gestational diabetes, you’ll probably be offered a glucose tolerance test (GTT) at around week 28 of pregnancy³.

While sweet, sugary foods can be tempting, cakes, pastries, biscuits and sugary drinks should ideally be reserved for occasional treats. It’s better for both you and your baby to avoid eating too much sugar when you’re pregnant and find healthier alternatives instead.

There are many low sugar foods to eat when you’re pregnant. Fruits such as mango, pineapple and berries are good ways to satisfy a sweet craving while still providing a variety of vitamins, minerals and fibre. Fresh, frozen and tinned options are all good, just remember to choose tinned fruit in natural juice or water without any added sugar⁷.

Dried fruit like apricots or prunes are also good and they give an extra dose of iron⁸, too. When buying dried fruit, check it doesn’t contain any added sugar, as well. Lastly, try to spread out your fruit intake during the day for a steadier release of natural sugars⁹.