A few months ago I mentioned a Cochrane review that found caffeine didn’t adversely affect full-term outcomes of pregnancy. However, the reviewers located only one study that met their criteria. Now, an apparently solid study provides reassurance that caffeine also is not implicated in causing miscarriage – which another study claimed in early 2008.
Here’s the abstract from Anna Z. Pollack and her colleagues:
Caffeine consumption has been equivocally associated with miscarriage, despite an absence of prospective longitudinal measurement of caffeine intake during sensitive windows of human development. In response to this critical data gap, we analyzed daily caffeine consumption while attempting pregnancy through 12 menstrual cycles at risk for pregnancy and found that caffeine consumption did not increase the risk or hazard of miscarriage, even after adjusting for relevant covariates.
I can’t get the full text, even with my library privileges, but the crucial point is that this study was prospective, meaning it followed women over time as they attempted to conceive. Thus, it didn’t rely on people’s usually faulty memories to gauge how much coffee or Pepsi they drank and when. It’s not evident to me whether it was also a controlled study, which was one of the Cochrane criteria.
By comparison, the study by Dr. De-Kun Li that caused all the anxiety about caffeine and miscarriage was retrospective. It relied on women’s memories. Only one interview was conducted with each study participant. In most of those cases where the woman miscarried, the interviews occurred after the pregnancy loss. It seems sort of obvious how grief and hormones might lead to self-blaming. Oh, if I’d only given up my coffee! Broadsheet had a good rundown of the other blatant weaknesses of the study. The media, naturally, blew it up into yet another Rule for Pregnancy, and Dr. Li did his best to add to the guilt-tripping.
While this new study has little direct bearing on me, personally (I am so done having babies!), I’d be just delighted if there were one less realm that the Pregnancy Police saw fit to patrol.
Coffee kitteh from I Can Has Cheezburger?
Patron cat of Kittywampus (1985-2001)
Good to hear! I’m planning on having kids in the next few years… and though I cut down recently from 4 cups of coffee per day to 1 (the debilitating withdrawal headache any time I didn’t get my required 4 cups per day got to be really frustrating), I’m not sure I could ever give up coffee entirely.
“I’d be just delighted if there were one less realm that the Pregnancy Police saw fit to patrol.”
I remember being five months pregnant and having my second cup of coffee in that time after morning sickness put paid to any thoughts of caffeine… I was immediately pounced upon by one of the self-appointed Pregnancy Police and told I was doing my baby harm… what I didn’t say, but found ironic, was this person had continued to drink alcohol throughout her own pregnancy.
I think that unfortunately a lot of the people who engage in such policing behaviour are really just trying to feed their egos by sh*tting on others and if not caffeine they’ll find something else that pregnant women are ‘doing wrong!’
Erniebufflo – The crazy thing is, you may not want coffee, especially in early pregnancy. My experience was much like Lissy’s. However, the one thing that helped best on those queasy mornings was … saltine crackers and regular Coke! So I got a little caffeine that way.
Lissy – Your story sounds much like mine, except that I didn’t have an encounter with a member of the PP. Maybe it’s because most of my coffee-drinking occurred at home, behind closed doors.
I totally agree that the PP will always find a target. I’m still glad if they can be deprived of one. In cases where a substance really *is* problematic – cigarettes come out worse than crack cocaine in the research – the PP is still not going to help a women quit.
This is good news – I also went off tea and coffee but was still keen on Coke during my pregnancy.
I remember one member of the PP insisting that I have a well-done steak, instead of medium. Because a good-quality steak in a high-end restaurant is THE END OF THE WORLD if you’re pregnant. Apparently.
Hmm. I wonder if Coke is a widespread secret “vice” among expectant mothers?
I had my first baby in Germany, where a friend of mine was advised to drink coffee every day because her blood pressure was a bit low. Funny how much culture influences medical “science.”
About the steak – I think your real sin was doing something just for yourself. Shocking!
The abbreviation PP is starting to grow on me. I typed it out of sheer laziness, but it’s now giving me some childish pleasure.