Show Caffine linked to miscarriages Rob Stein The Washington Post Caffeine consumption by pregnant women can significantly increase the risk of miscarriage according to new research The Th study involving more than 1000 pregnant California women provides the r Tf most Convincing evidence to to date of such a alink alink link Liu d. the J. J i researchers researchers' vill said Research previously indicated an increased risk but scientists were unsure whether those findings were affected by bythe bythe bythe the fact that women having morning sickness might be less likely to drink drinks such as coffee and less likely to have hav miscarriages The relationship between caffeine intake and miscarriage was controversial said DeKun DeKun DeKun De- De Kun Li a reproductive and epi epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente in n Oakland Calif who led the study The question has been whether this association is really due to caffeine itself or something else To answer that Li and his colleagues studied 1063 women in the San Francisco area early in their pregnancies They questioned the women in detail about their beverage consumption and whether they were experiencing morning sickness Those women who consumed milligrams of caffeine or more a day were about twice as likely to miscarry the researchers report Monday on the Web site of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology That's about the amount of caffeine in two ounce eight-ounce cups of coffee five ounce 12 cans of soda or six cups of tea Li said The findings are consistent with those of earlier studies which have found an increased risk of miscarriage from daily consumption of about to milligrams of caffeine Li said But we went one step further in determining ning whether it was the caffeine itself or it was women changing chaRging their drinking pattern he said My hope is our study will remove that uncertainty I think this should put the argument to rest Based on the findings Li recommended that women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant minimize caffeine intake If they have to drink c containing caffeine a f f e beverages they should reduce the amount to one cup a day at the most he said Tracy Flanagan director of women's health at Kaiser Permanente agreed Avoiding caffeine may maybe maybe maybe be even better Consider switching to decaffeinated coffee and other decaffeinated beverages during your pregnancy she said Learn Leam to perk up instead with natural energy boosts like a brisk walk yoga stretches snacking on dried fruits and nuts |