Emphasis mine. Link below.
From the article:
We are finding that sugar exposure can begin to affect a child even
before birth. The sugars that a mother consumes while pregnant or
> nursing can be passed to her baby, disrupt healthy growth and
> development and pose risk for obesity.
Involuntary exposure to sugar can also continue beyond pregnancy and
lactation. Infant formula and baby foods often contain added sugar and
many children are exposed to sugary drinks from infancy. One study
from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which followed
> the diets of 1189 infants over six years, showed that those who were
> given sugary drinks just three times a week at 10-12 months of age had
> twice the risk of becoming obese.
…
In reality, the situation with sugar and kids has got out of control
and we are starting to understand the repercussions. Certain types of
sugar - especially fructose and artificial sweeteners, which have
dramatically increased in our diet within the last generation - are
particularly damaging during critical periods of growth and
development in children.
Fructose is commonly thought of as healthy because it is found in
fruit. But consumption of beverages made with high fructose corn syrup
and fruit juice concentrates deliver a much higher level of fructose
than in a piece of whole fruit. In an animal study conducted by our
collaborators at the University of Southern California, we found that
higher levels of fructose consumption caused cognitive impairments and
inflammation in the brain but only when sugars were consumed during
the animals’ adolescent growth periods.
Similarly, while we have limited information about how artificial
sweeteners affect childhood development, we do know that they present
another source of potentially dangerous secondhand sugars. A recent
> study from Canada, including more than 3000 women, showed that
> consuming diet soft drinks during pregnancy doubled their infants’
> chances of becoming overweight.