Is it True That too Much Caffeine can Cause a Miscarriage?
Is it true that too much caffeine can cause a miscarriage? There seems to be conflicting data on the matter. Many blogs, articles and books will tell you that too much caffeine raises the risk of miscarriage.
Obviously if you are susceptible to recurring miscarriage, then any risk seems like too much. However as I researched the subject I found just as many studies disputed the claim that “too much caffeine caused miscarriages”, as confirmed it.
For example, a study held at the Department of Community and Preventative Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, wanted to tackle the caffeine question.
They started with the study this statement:
“Coffee and caffeine have been inconsistently found to be associated with increased risk of clinical miscarriage-a potentially important association given the high prevalence of exposure.” With their background statement solidified, the study then examined 2407 clinically recognized pregnancies that resulted in 258 pregnancy losses.
This study started with an initial prenatal assessment regarding caffeine usage. Setting markers at prenatal, 20 weeks and completed pregnancies, the researchers found “Coffee and caffeine consumption at all 3 time points were unrelated to total miscarriage risk and the risk of loss after the interview. Reported exposure at the time of the interview was associated with increased risk among those with losses before the interview.”
Their conclusion was as follows “There is little indication of possible harmful effects of caffeine on miscarriage risk within the range of coffee and caffeine consumption reported, with a suggested reporting bias among women with losses before the interview. The results may reflect exposure misclassification and unmeasured heterogeneity of pregnancy losses.”
The fact of the matter is there are no consistent facts at all. If you need your daily caffeine jolt, try to keep it to a minimum. If you would prefer to play it safe, then cut caffeine out completely. But as with every part of pregnancy, try to lower stress, do your best and enjoy what you can.
