You might love sweet tea, but is it safe to drink while pregnant? The key word is sugar. Sugars can be found naturally in fruits and vegetables or they can be added as sugar, syrup, honey, or another sweetener. This article covers the risks of drinking sweet tea while pregnant and how much you should limit intake if you continue to drink it.
Is Sweet Tea Bad For Pregnancy?
While there’s no evidence that sweet tea is bad for pregnancy, it does contain plenty of sugar, which isn’t exactly great for anyone. Sugars are fine in moderation, but if you drink sweet tea every day then you’ll consume too much. Sugars have been linked to weight gain, heart disease, and diabetes, so it’s best to keep them in moderation. That being said, sweet tea is not something that’s specifically bad for pregnancy. It just contains a lot of sugar, which isn’t great for anyone.
Sugars In Teas
There are plenty of sugars in teas. Tea leaves are naturally high in tannins and caffeine, but these compounds can be removed. The amount of sugar in your tea depends on what type of sweetener you use. – Black Tea – About 25 grams of sugar per 8-ounce serving. – Oolong Tea – About 18 grams of sugar per 8-ounce serving. – Green Tea – About 3 grams of sugar per 8-ounce serving. – Hibiscus Tea – About 15 grams of sugar per 8-ounce serving. – White Tea – About 2 grams of sugar per 8-ounce serving. – Matcha Tea – About 9 grams of sugar per 8-ounce serving.
How Much Sweet Tea Is Too Much?
That depends on your weight and how much you weigh right now. The general recommendation is no more than six servings of added sugar per day for women who aren’t pregnant and no more than nine servings per day for pregnant women. Each serving equates to about 12 ounces of sweet tea. If you drink sweet tea on a daily basis, it’s important to track how much you’re consuming and keep tabs on your servings. If you find that you’re consistently exceeding your daily recommended serving amount, it might be time to find an alternative to sweet tea.
Rebuilding Your Iron Stores
Iron is a mineral that’s essential for pregnancy and breastfeeding. It helps your blood cells transport oxygen throughout your body. Your body naturally stores iron and begins to produce more as soon as you get pregnant, but it’s possible to become deficient if you don’t get enough. If you’re pregnant and you have low iron levels, you’re at higher risk of fatigue, headaches, and anemia. Anemia happens when your red blood cells aren’t plentiful or if your body doesn’t have enough nutrients (like iron) to make new cells. If you drink sweet tea and you’re pregnant, you might need to take a daily iron supplement. If you don’t, you risk becoming iron deficient. Sweet tea has a lot of sugar, though, which can make it harder for your body to absorb the iron. To avoid this, try crushing up your iron supplement and adding it to sweet tea. You may not even notice the taste!
Safer Alternatives To Sweet Tea
If you love sweet tea’s taste but you don’t love its sugar content, there are a few ways to make it healthier. First, you can try different types of sweeteners. If you love the taste of sweet tea, but don’t love the amount of sugar it contains, you can often replace the sugar with a lower-calorie alternative, like stevia. Another option is to try a different tea that isn’t quite as sugary. You can experiment with different types of black or green teas to see if they have a similar taste to your usual sweet tea. If you’d like to cut down on your sweet tea consumption but you love its taste, try cutting down portion sizes. Instead of a large glass, try a small mug filled about halfway. Instead of sweet tea with your meal every day, try having it just a few times a week.
The Bottom Line
When you’re pregnant, you have to be extra careful about what you consume, especially when it comes to sugar. While sweet tea isn’t necessarily bad for pregnancy, it contains a lot of sugar and doesn’t have any additional health benefits. If you’re craving sweet tea, try cutting down on the sugar by brewing your own sweet tea at home without adding any sweeteners. You can also try drinking iced tea made with a lower amount of sugar to help cut back on your sugar intake.