A recent study in the United Kingdom linked high caffeine intake during pregnancy to miscarriages. This study says that drinking caffeine doubled the chances of a pregnant woman losing her baby, and stated that women might not want to drink coffee, tea or soda.

This study took place in San Fransisco among a group of 1,063 pregnant women. The entrance examination was done in person, and each person was asked what caffeinated drinks they had consumed since their last menstrual period. This list allowed but was not limited to coffee, soda, hot chocolate, and tea. They were then asked which beverages they had consumed daily, how many times a week, quantity of each drink, and what combination of drinks since they had realized they were pregnant. Those women who had miscarried before the exam were only asked what their caffeine intake was before and during the pregnancy up to that point of the miscarriage.

Doctors used the women’s answers to figure out their daily caffeine consumption rate. The doctors also asked about other aspects of the women’s lives, including previous problems with pregnancy and other miscarriages, their age, marital status, race, alcohol & smoking practices, income, whether they had used a jacuzzi during their pregnancy or encountered any magnetic fields, and whether or not there had been any nausea or vomiting related to their pregnancy.

Researchers followed the women to the 20^th week of their pregnancy. They compared the rate of miscarriage at the very end of the study, to the rate of women’s caffeine consumed, taking into account all other factors as well that might predate a miscarriage. They came to the conclusion that expecting mothers should not consume higher levels of caffeine as the evidence suggests that it is a factor for miscarriage.

Find more do’s and don’t here, Smoking, Caffeine and Alcohol in Pregnancy

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