It’s hard to imagine a life without caffeine, that glorious chemical that boosts the body’s energy, increase alertness, and keeps you awake. It is found in sodas, juices, energy drinks and coffee.
Depending on which research you read, caffeine can either be good for you or kill you. But there is little doubt that caffeine consumption in pregnant woman must be carefully monitored.
But a new research reveals that caffeine consumption, however little, may be lethal for expecting mothers.
The research observed 344 pregnancies, 28 percent of which suffered a miscarried.
Drinking three or more caffeinated drinks daily raised miscarriage risk the risk of early pregnancy loss by 74 percent. That held whether it was before conception or afterwards.
READ: Foods to avoid during pregnancy
“There's something about drinking caffeinated beverages that is associated with pregnancy loss,” said Germaine Buck Louis of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in a Today report.
But there’s a catch, caffeine consumption in fathers contribute to this risk, too.
“Male preconception consumption of caffeinated beverages was just as strongly associated with pregnancy loss as females',” he said.
So even if the mom stops drinking coffee in the morning altogether, if the father is a coffee drinker, the danger remains.
But before you consider throwing out your coffee and going cold turkey on it, know that the general consensus between doctors remain the same:
READ: Drinking coffee while pregnant won’t affect your baby’s IQ
Moderation is still key when it comes to pregnancy diet.
A little caffeine is okay, noted Dr. Zev Williams of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a spokesman for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
“So many studies, including this one, show that one to two cups of caffeine is not harmful.”
“It’s probably better to just have one to two cups of coffee a day and avoid to having those medications to treat a rebound caffeine withdrawal headache than to go completely cold turkey.”
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