Caffeine and Miscarriage

Newly pregnant mothers are often given long lists of things to do and not do. Add caffeine to the list of don'ts for pregnant women to help prevent miscarriage. As reported on ABC News, the risk of miscarriage for women who drank two cups of coffee a day were double the risk of women who did not consume caffeine.

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.

Your best bet? If you have a caffeine addiction, try kicking the habit now. Or restrict the use of caffeine to the pre-ovulatory phase to make sure there is no risk to a newly formed life.