Maternal Health: Pregnant women should avoid caffeine at all costs: Study

*Current evidence does not support health advice that ‘moderate’ caffeine consumption during pregnancy is safe, says Researchers

*Caffeine intake can be linked to stillbirth, miscarriage, or premature delivery

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

As consumers continue to increase their caffeinated beverage consumption with benefits associated with drinking caffeine, a fresh study says it can be difficult to know how much is too much.

Though study varies when it comes to your everyday consumers, researchers have determined that the popular beverage ingredient can increase the risk of several complications in pregnant women, report said.

Researcher wrote that “the substantial majority finding from observational studies and meta-analyses is that maternal caffeine consumption is reliably associated with major negative pregnancy outcomes.

“Consequently, current evidence does not support health advice that assumes ‘moderate’ caffeine consumption during pregnancy is safe.”

It was learnt that in arriving at the conclusion on the need to ditching the morning coffee during pregnancy, the researchers analysed nearly 50 earlier studies on the subject, all of which looked at pregnancy outcomes when women consumed caffeine.

According to the researchers, the overwhelming takeaway from all of these assessments was that drinking caffeine during pregnancy can lead to adverse outcomes,.

Caffeine, they wrote, can increase health risks for both mothers and babies, even in the smallest doses.

When it came to pregnancy-related issues, the study revealed that caffeine intake can be linked to stillbirth, miscarriage, or premature delivery, while infants can experience a low birth weight, childhood obesity, or childhood leukemia.

These findings are consistent with the findings of another recent study, which found that high levels of caffeine can be bad for newborns’ growth and development, stated the report.

Likewise, in the study, the researchers opined that they don’t believe any level of caffeine is free of side effects, and their analysis revealed complications occurred regardless of how much caffeine was consumed during pregnancy.

They hope that recommendations regarding caffeine consumption during pregnancy change to ensure that women have the healthiest pregnancies possible.

Despite the health benefits associated with caffeine, this study yet emphasised the importance of steering clear of caffeine during pregnancy.

Researcher Jack James said: “Specifically, the cumulative scientific evidence supports pregnant women and women contemplating pregnancy being advised to avoid caffeine.”

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