Kristie McNealy, MD

For years, there has a been a debate about whether caffeine is dangerous for pregnant women. While some doctors felt that consuming too much caffeine increased miscarriage risk, others felt that there were other factors related to healthy pregnancies, like morning sickness, that caused some women with healthy pregnancies to stop drinking caffeine. A new study out of Kaiser Permanente shows that caffeine intake and miscarriage risk are related.

Researchers interviewed over 1000 pregnant women about the amounts and types of drinks they consumed, as well as other factors like morning sickness, smoking, alcohol and hot tub use, and other potential miscarriage risk factors. They calculated caffeine consumption based on each woman’s consumption of coffee, caffeinated soda, tea and hot chocolate. Then they assessed the outcomes of each woman’s pregnancy at 20 weeks gestation, and analyzed the data, controlling for variables like morning sickness.

The study showed that women who consumed more than 200 mg of caffeine per day (200 mg caffeine = 2 cups of coffee or 5 cans of soda) had twice the risk of miscarriage compared to the group that had none. Women who consumed less than 200 mg had a 40% increase in their miscarriage risk over those that had none. In total, 16.2% of women in the study had miscarriages, and 25% consumed no caffeine.

The fact that the rate of miscarriage changed with varying levels of caffeine consumption (dose response), lends credence that the results of this study were real. Another very significant point is the fact that researchers controlled for differences in morning sickness in their analysis. This probably accounts for the fact that this study had different results than other ones looking at the caffeine issue.

I found the results of this study compelling, although I’d have to admit that the thought of quitting coffee is less than pleasant right now.

* Image courtesy of Free Images.

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