Coffee During Pregnancy: Safe or Not?
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On the heels of a Mount Sinai School of Medicine research which concludes that moderate coffee intake during pregnancy is safe and does not increase the risk of miscarriage, here’s another research saying otherwise. I have written before about confusing research, and here’s another proof.
So here’s the puzzle. The snag on earlier studies ,which concluded that even moderate caffeine intake during pregnancy is risky was this: researchers focused on high intake; researchers included women who had nausea and morning sickness — long associated with a reduced miscarriage risk in the first place — who were forced to cut back on coffee or soda consumption.
Dr. De-Kun Li of Kaiser Permanente conducted his study taking morning sickness into account, the first researcher to ever do so. The scary conclusion is that drinking 200 mg of caffeine a day, usually the amount found in two cups of coffee, significantly increases the risk of miscarriage. The stats reveal that 25% of women who consumed any caffeine suffered a miscarriage, compared to just 12% of women who didn’t.
The study interviewed 1,063 women who were pregnant between 1996 and 1998. The source of caffeine, whether teas, sodas, coffees, didn’t matter.
My baby is nice and healthy but now I really quake at those green teas I was having while pregnant. Just in moderation, but still… I’ve always said to chuck expert advice out the window, but with such serious implications of caffeine intake during pregnancy, I’d say err on the side of caution and ditch the caffeine completely when pregnant.
