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October 20 2001
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Pregnant Women Need to Avoid Caffeine

 

Pregnant women should limit their caffeine intake to the equivalent of four cups of instant coffee a day.

Consuming more caffeine than this -- about 300 milligrams (mg) per day -- could increase their risk of having a miscarriage or a low birth weight baby.

To help women keep track of their intake here are caffeine intakes for individual items:

  • Average cup of instant coffee - 75 mg
  • Average mug of coffee - 100 mg
  • Average cup of brewed coffee - 100 mg
  • Average cup of tea - 50 mg
  • Regular cola drink - up to 40 mg
  • Regular energy drink - up to 80 mg
  • Normal bar of chocolate - up to 50 mg

The new advice is based on a review of scientific literature by the UK Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment, a group of independent experts.

Reuters London, October 10, 2001



Dr. Mercola Dr. Mercola's Comments:

As I stated last year when this information was published in NEJM:

Caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world. One does not need to be a doctor to know that coffee is not the best drink for you. However, I firmly believe it is less harmful than most other things that people drink, like regular soda, diet sodas, juices and Gatorade-type products.

Also, since coffee is one of the most heavily sprayed crops, there are likely also plenty of toxic pesticide residues that cause adverse health effects. Tea may have some pesticide residues as well, and there are also reports of high fluoride contents of some teas.

If you are pregnant and enjoy tea, you should definitely do your homework to ensure that the variety you choose does not contain fluoride or caffeine. One safe choice would be Body Ecology Diet's pure tea extracts. These come in green and black varieties, contain virtually no fluoride and are caffeine free.

However, it is clearly best to have clean water as your primary beverage. Coffee is an ABSOLUTE restriction during pregnancy.

If one is making the transition to a healthier eating plan, then it would be reasonable to make removing the coffee as one of the last things you do (unless you are pregnant of course).

Removing the sugars and grains will produce far more benefits than stopping coffee for most of us.

Related Articles:

Caffeine May Up Miscarriage Risk

Truth About Caffeine - Especially During Pregnancy

Coffee and t

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