Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Caffeine linked to miscarriage
recommendations, and we hope the current guidance will now be reviewed in light of these findings.”
Professor Jack James, of Reykjavik University in Iceland, studied 1,261 peer-reviewed articles linking caffeine to pregnancy outcomes.
He said: “Maternal caffeine consumption was associated with increased risk for four adverse outcomes: miscarriage, stillbirth, low birth weight and/or small for gestational age, and childhood acute leukaemia.” Four of five observational studies had also reported significant links between a mother’s
THERESA May says the Government should consider “redress” for “victims” of a hormone pregnancy test drug.
The ex-pm said “lives have suffered” because of Primodos, given to thousands across Britain in the 60s and 70s.
Many parents are convinced it left children malformed. For caffeine intake and later childhood obesity. Prof James said: “Scientific evidence supports pregnant women and women contemplating pregnancy being advised to avoid caffeine.”
He said the caffeinerelated risk was reported with “moderate to high levels of consistency” for all the outcomes.
Cutting out tea and coffee completely could be a struggle for many women. Latest figures show that more than 165 million cups of tea are consumed daily in Britain, and 95 million cups of coffee.
That works out at an average of five
more than 50 years, campaigners have fought for recognition of the dangers of Primodos after Dr Isabel Gal first raised concerns in 1967.
Mrs May told a Sky News documentary broadcast last night that women leading the campaign had been “beating their head against a brick wall of the state”. A review she ordered in 2018 said teas or coffees per day for most adults. However, Daghni Rajasingam, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “The findings of this study add to the large body of evidence that supports limited caffeine intake during pregnancy, but pregnant women do not need to completely cut out caffeine, as this paper suggests.
“As the study notes, high levels of caffeine during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage and babies having a low birth weight and may lead to excess weight gain in the child’s early years, which can increase risk of health problems later in life.
“However, as other – and potentially more reliable – research has found, pregnant women do not need to cut caffeine out entirely because these risks are extremely small, even if the recommended caffeine limits are exceeded.”