Coffee is a beloved beverage in today’s fast paced world. In the United States, over 70 percent of women continue to drink coffee while pregnant.
However, increasing scientific evidence suggests that there’s no safe level of caffeine intake during pregnancy. Overconsumption of caffeine can lead to low birth weight, reproductive issues, stillbirth, birth defects, miscarriage, and even childhood leukemia.
Coffee While Pregnant
I made it to 16 weeks before I asked my midwife if it was okay to have coffee while pregnant. Exhaustion won out against my desire to be caffeine free the entire pregnancy.
There was a noticeable hesitation before she answered. She told me it should be fine if I had a cup of coffee a day.
At the beginning of my second pregnancy I asked my natural health practitioner the same question. Is it okay to have coffee while pregnant? Again there was a noticeable pause.
Both times I told myself I was imagining it. Of course they would tell me if coffee was bad while pregnant.
I even scoured the web to confirm. Everywhere I looked, they said as long as you have less than 200 mg of caffeine per day you should be fine.
I thought I was in the clear. I could brighten my day with the delights of coffee and not worry about harming my baby.
Yet, healthcare practitioners never elaborate on the “should be fine.” It’s unclear whether they don’t know all the details, or don’t want to share their knowledge in fears of offending their patients.
How Much Coffee Can I Drink While Pregnant
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has determined that there isn’t enough conclusive studies on the topic of caffeine while pregnant. Therefore, they recommend pregnant woman limit their consumption to no more than 200 mg of caffeine a day.
This doesn’t pertain solely to coffee. There are many other sources that contain caffeine, such as:
- Medications
- Soda
- Chocolate
- Energy Drinks
- Teas
However, increasing evidence is showing that daily doses of less than 200mg of caffeine may increase the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth.
(Check out this extensive list of caffeine containing products and their dosage.)
Effects of Caffeine During Pregnancy
The effects of caffeine during pregnancy is an active area of research. Its effects can vary significantly from woman to woman. This in large is due to how susceptible the woman is to caffeine. It may also be influenced by genetics and environmental factors.
Many women have heard that drinking coffee during pregnancy may cause dehydration and low birth weight.
Though there are few who have been informed of the more serious potential outcomes. (1,2,3)
1. Childhood Leukemia
High dosages of caffeine during pregnancy significantly increase the risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A fast spreading cancer where the bone marrow creates immature lymphoblast’s (white blood cells)
This is due to caffeine’s ability to alter DNA in an unborn child.
2. Reduces Blood Flow to Baby
Caffeine can cause vasoconstriction. This means the blood vessels constrict, and blood flow changes, resulting in increased blood pressure.For a pregnant woman, vasoconstriction reduces the blood flow to the placenta and the baby, which also impairs the ability of nutrients to get to the baby.
Improper blood flow can lead to birth defects, impaired neurological development, or preterm labor.
3. Affects Fetal Development
During pregnancy, a women’s metabolic rate is significantly decreased, especially during the second and third trimester.
The half-life of caffeine increases from the typical 2.5-4.5 hours to about 15 hours towards the end of pregnancy.
The accumulation of caffeine has the potential to affect fetal development and cause adult-onset diseases.
4. Neurological and Behavioral Damage
Caffeine crosses through the placenta and gets into the babies blood stream. And unlike an adult, babies do not have the enzymes necessary to metabolize caffeine properly. This could result in possible long term neurological and behavioral damage in unborn infants.
5. Complications For Mom and Baby
Studies have found that consuming as little as 100-200 mg of caffeine during pregnancy increases the risk of restricted fetal growth, miscarriage, and low birth weight.
In the baby, it increases the chances of impaired cognitive development (associated with memory, learning, and decision making) and obesity during their lifetime.
6. Impairs Heart Development in Baby
Over-consumption of caffeine is shown to disrupt an unborn baby’s cardiovascular growth and restrict blood flow to the heart. As a result, the baby may experience compromised heart function later in their life.
Even daily consumption of one cup of coffee has been shown to disrupt fetal cardiovascular growth and function.
7. Restricts Development of the Placenta
Drinking coffee in the second and third trimesters can have a profound effect on development of both the baby and placenta.
8. Decreases Cognitive Function and Lowers IQ
When a woman drank more than 200mg of caffeine per day, her baby was twice as likely to have impaired cognitive function and low IQ than that of a woman who drank less than 100mg of caffeine a day.
The data above shows that it’s in the best interest of both the mother and developing baby to abstain from coffee intake until science can definitively prove that there’s no long term health effects.
Decafe Coffee While Pregnant
Technically, decaffeinated coffee is a processed food, due to the way the caffeine is extracted.
Decaffeinated coffee has had about 97 percent of the caffeine removed from the beans during processing. A 240ml cup of coffee still contains about 2.4 mg of caffeine.
However, there are studies that found up to 14 mg of caffeine in a 16 ounce cup of in some commercial brands of decafe coffee. (4)
Because of it’s low caffeine quantity, there are no recommendations on the amount of decafe coffee that’s safe to drink during pregnancy.
Decaffinating Process
On a precautionary note, decaffeinated coffee is often processed with Methylene Chloride.
Methylene Chloride is an active ingredient used in paint stripper. Methylene Chloride was banned by the EPA, but the FDA allows it to be used in the process of decaffeinating coffee. Coffee brands are not required to disclose whether or not they use Methylene Chloride for their processing.
Check out The Clean Label Project for which companies use a water process to decaffeinate their coffee, and which ones use the chemical process.
Another main solvent used is ethyl acetate. This colorless liquid is used in glues and nail polish removers. Sounds logical that they use these chemicals in a beverage, right?
Alternative Options
If you’re anything like me in this discovery journey, you’re probably pretty grouchy right now. What else is there to replace a comforting cup of coffee? And don’t even bring up the subject of herbal tea.
Well, I went through a long and torturous process of trying to substitute out my morning cup of sunshine. I have to be honest, nothing can replace the delicious taste of good coffee, but I found some I could live with.
Dandy Blend– Dandy blend is an herbal beverage with chicory root and dandelion. It’s a great way to get the detoxifying benefits of dandelion into your diet. Many women have liver issues (which causes nausea) and adding dandelion helps support the weakened organ.
Dandy Blend is so close, but for a coffee snob like me, doesn’t do the trick. As long as I’m not trying to trick myself into believing its coffee I like it. The best flavor is with a heaping teaspoon added to water.
Teeccino Chickory Herbal “Coffee”– This blend of chicory, dandelion, and carob is 100 percent caffeine free. It also contains Inulin, which is a prebiotic soluble fiber. Prebiotics are great for feeding the gut flora and in turn improving digestion and strengthening the immune system.
I think chicory coffee tastes the most like coffee, but has a little bit of a bitter finish to it. Sweetening it pretty much covers the bitterness. I’ve used a tiny bit of maple syrup or a drop or two of stevia. (Beware, stevia has a unique flavor that not everyone enjoys.)
Mushroom “Coffee”– Often made with a blend of Cordyceps, Chaga, Lion’s mane, Turkey tail, and Reishi.
Mushrooms have fantastic health benefits. They are packed with essential nutrients and vitamins that are great for pregnancy. They are even known to be disease fighting. And when you drink powdered mushroom it is said to be at a more concentrated level.
With good quality mushrooms, they also give a nice energy boost. (Not quit like coffee I’m afraid- more subtle.)
Right now I have a blend with cacao in it so I don’t have much to say about the flavor of this type of beverage. To me it tastes like hot chocolate, and I’m not a fan.
If you are interested in Mushroom coffee, be sure to get a blend that doesn’t actually have coffee in it.
Think About It
The BMJ Evidence Based Medicine believes that it’s important to inform women about the potential caffeine-related harm.
So why is it that heath care professionals don’t see the need? They are required to inform pregnant women of the potential side effects of alcohol and cigarettes.
Government agencies claim its due to limited supporting evidence, yet even when death is a rare case in surgeries, the hospital is required to inform the patient of the possibility.
Everyone should have the right to do their own risk to benefit evaluation based on all potential outcomes.
So you must ask yourself, is it okay to have coffee while pregnant? Is it worth the risk of reacting negatively because you were unknowingly more susceptible to caffeine than most?
I can definitely say I wish I’d known these facts during my pregnancies.