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Infertility
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Caffeine Consumption Raises Miscarriage Rate: Study
Two Daily Cups of Coffee Found to Double Rate of Pregnancy Termination
By AUDREY GRAYSON
Jan. 21, 2008
Expectant mothers have been confused for years about whether drinking that
morning cup of joe could do harm to their unborn child.
Caffeine Pregnant
(AP Graphics)
Some previous studies have shown that consuming caffeine during pregnancy
increases a woman's risk for miscarriage, while others have found that
drinking just a couple cups of coffee a day doesn't pose much of a threat.
The latest research to examine the risk of caffeine consumption during
pregnancy reveals that women who said they drank more than two cups of
coffee per day had nearly double the risk of miscarriage compared with
women who consumed no caffeine.
Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Research Division in Oakland, Calif.,
followed 1,063 women during their pregnancy and asked about their caffeine
intake. From October 1996 to October 1998, researchers examined the
effects of the stimulant among the women who said they never decreased
their caffeine consumption during their pregnancy.
They found that women who consumed 200 milligrams or more of caffeine
daily — the equivalent of two or more cups of coffee or five 12-ounce cans
of soda — had twice the risk for miscarriage. Moreover, the study found
that even those women who consumed less than 200 milligrams of caffeine
daily had about 40 percent increased risk for miscarriage.
Coffee: 'Toxic Stuff'
"I am not at all surprised by this study," said Dr. Sherman Silber,
director of the Infertility Center at St. Lukes Hospital in St. Louis.
"Coffee is toxic stuff."
But does this study carry enough weight to finally answer the question of
whether pregnant women should give up caffeine altogether?
Dr. De-Kun Li, primary study investigator, said that he hopes the research
will convince doctors to tell their pregnant patients to avoid coffee
completely.
"This is something you can control if you're worried about a miscarriage,"
Li said. "There's lots of things we can't control, but this is one thing
that you can."
However, Li admitted that the study fails to answer the question of
whether small amounts of caffeine significantly increase a woman's chance
for miscarriage.
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