Coffee Can
Double Risk of Miscarriage
Pregnant
coffee-drinkers are being urged to reduce or even avoid the beverage
altogether, after new research offers what the Ottawa Citizen called
“the clearest and
strongest evidence yet” that too much caffeine can dramatically boost
the
chances of a miscarriage.
The
study by Kaiser Permanente, a private
health-care
provider in
Interviews
conducted with 1,063
The
study also found that women who consumed less than 200 milligrams of
caffeine a
day still had a 42 per cent greater likelihood of losing their baby.
Given
these findings, the study concluded that “it may be prudent to stop or
reduce
caffeine intake during pregnancy.”
Dr.
Tracy Flanagan, Kaiser
Permanente’s director
of women’s health, suggests that pregnant women should consider
“switching to
decaffeinated coffee and other decaffeinated beverages during your
pregnancy.”
Tea and hot chocolate also contain caffeine.
“Learn
to perk up instead with natural energy boosts like a brisk walk, yoga
stretches, snacking on dried fruits and nuts,” Flanagan told CTV.
While
not dismissing the need for pregnant women to at least cut back on how
much
caffeine they consume, Dr. Gideon Koren, director of
the Motherisk
Program at
Koren
said he counsels expectant mothers to limit their caffeine consumption
to 150
milligrams a day. But he also tells them that if they go above that
amount,
they should not automatically assume they have put their babies at
serious
risk.
The study is published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
