No brew for two: Pregnant women 'should avoid tea and coffee altogether'

Mums-to-be should avoid tea and coffee altogether while pregnant, warns a new study.
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Current guidelines suggest that pregnant women can safely drink around two cups of coffee a day without effecting their unborn baby's health.

But researchers who analysed previous studies on the subject now say there is NO safe level of caffeine consumption for pregnant women and would-be mothers.

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They want a "radical revision" of current health guidelines so that women who are pregnant or trying to conceive should be advised to avoid caffeine completely because the evidence suggests that maternal caffeine consumption is bad for the baby.

Mums-to-be should avoid tea and coffee altogether while pregnant, warns a new study.Mums-to-be should avoid tea and coffee altogether while pregnant, warns a new study.
Mums-to-be should avoid tea and coffee altogether while pregnant, warns a new study.

Caffeine is probably the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in history, and many people, including pregnant women drink it on a daily basis.

Pregnant women have been advised until now that consuming a small amount of caffeine daily will not harm their baby.

The NHS, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) set the level at 200 mg caffeine, which is the equivalent to around two cups of moderate-strength coffee per day.

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But the new analysis of observational studies, published in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine, suggests there is no safe level of caffeince consumption during pregnancy.

Researchers undertook a review of current evidence on caffeine-related pregnancy outcomes, to determine whether the recommended safe level of consumption for pregnant women is soundly based.

Through database searches, Professor Jack James identified 1,261 English language peer-reviewed articles linking caffeine and caffeinated drinks to pregnancy outcomes.

These were whittled down to 48 original observational studies and meta-analyses published in the past two decades reporting results for one or more of six major negative pregnancy outcomes.

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The outcomes were miscarriage, stillbirth, low birth weight and/or small for gestational age, preterm birth, childhood acute leukaemia, and childhood obesity.

A total of 42 separate findings were reported in 37 observational studies; of these 32 found that caffeine significantly increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and 10 found no or inconclusive associations.

Prof James, of Reykjavik University, Iceland, said: "Caffeine-related risk was reported with moderate to high levels of consistency for all pregnancy outcomes except preterm birth.

"Eleven studies reported on the findings of 17 meta-analyses, and in 14 of these maternal caffeine consumption was associated with increased risk for four adverse outcomes: miscarriage, stillbirth, low birth weight and/or small for gestational age, and childhood acute leukaemia.

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"The three remaining meta-analyses did not find an association between maternal caffeine consumption and preterm birth."

Prof James said no meta-analyses looked at the association between maternal caffeine consumption and childhood obesity, but four of five observational studies reported significant associations.

He said that although it was an observational study, so can't establish causation, the nature of the associations between caffeine and adverse pregnancy outcomes, and the fact some studies found no threshold below which negative outcomes were absent, "supports" likely causation rather than mere association.

Prof James concluded that there is "substantial cumulative evidence" of an association between maternal caffeine consumption and diverse negative pregnancy outcomes.

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As a result, he said, current health recommendations concerning caffeine consumption during pregnancy are in need of "radical revision."

Prof James added: "Specifically, the cumulative scientific evidence supports pregnant women and women contemplating pregnancy being advised to avoid caffeine."

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