Pregnant women who drink artificially sweetened drinks may be more likely to have overweight infants than women who do not, a study suggested on Monday. Researchers found that daily consumption of artificially sweetened beverages was linked to a two-fold higher risk of having an infant who was overweight at age one, compared to women who drank no artificially sweetened beverages at all. “To our knowledge, we provide the first human evidence that maternal consumption of artificial sweeteners during pregnancy may influence infant BMI,” said the study led by Meghan Azad of the University of Manitoba.