If you're a coffee-loving mum-to-be you may have been pleased to read recent reports of the latest research on caffeine consumption during pregnancy, published in the British Medical Journal, which suggests that reducing caffeine intake in the second half of pregnancy has no effect on the birth weight or length of gestation of your baby. But before you throw all coffee caution to the wind, it's important to realise that the research doesn't at all undermine the current recommendations on limiting your coffee intake at whatever stage of pregnancy you're at.
Researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark compared the pregnancies of women drinking three or more cups of caff and decaff instant coffee per day and found no significant differences in terms of mean birth weight and gestation length between the two groups. However, the study does not give the all-clear to drinking limitless amounts of caffeine during pregnancy. The scope of the study was relatively limited, looking only at instant coffee - which has a significantly lower caffeine content than brewed and filtered coffee - and only at the second half of pregnancy. What's more, high caffeine intake has been linked to other pregnancy complications, in fact, earlier research from the same university produced evidence that drinking more than eight cups of coffee a day could double the risk of a miscarriage.
So while interesting, the latest study doesn't alter the current recommendations of an upper limit of 300mg of caffein a day, whether in coffee or other sources such as colas and chocolate (find out more on safe caffeine consumption in pregnancy here). Obviously the amount of caffeine in your coffee cup will depend on the size and strength of the portion, but as a very rough guide, the 300mg limit will be reached by 2-3 cups of brewed coffee or 3-4 cups of instant coffee.
Apart from uncertain risk factors associated with high caffeine consumption in pregnancy, other reasons to cut back are that caffeine interferes with your body's absorption of iron and calcium at a time when your body demands more of both. At a very simple level, the diuretic effect of caffeine will also have you running to the loo even more often than otherwise, and what pregnant woman needs that?
