Anytime I pick up a cup of coffee in the morning, one of those grandma’s myths about the serious health consequences of coffee crosses my mind. If you’re a pregnant woman, your fears may be several orders of magnitude greater than mine. For many years, coffee was believed to result in low birth weight and pre-term delivery. New findings, however, show that it appears to present no threat.
According to a Danish study, coffee does not have any negative effect on birth weight and does not increase the number of premature births.
The research carried out by a Danish University monitored 1,207 pregnant women all of whom regularly drank coffee during their term. On average they drank three cups a day.
Over the course of the last 20 weeks of pregnancy, half of them continued drinking coffee while the other half were offered a decaffeinated product instead.
The author of the report found no significant difference between the two groups. In the first group, 4.2% of the babies were born prematurely and 4.5% had low birth weight, compared with 5.2% and 4.7% respectively in the other group.
Please note that the Danish Interventioanal Study looked at birth weight and pre-term delivery and therefore does not explain all existing concerns about coffee and pregnancy. If your concern is birth weight or preterm delivery, focus on cigarette and alcohol.
In the meantime, until future studies uncover additional knowledge, just sip your coffee. Remember however, that as with anything, moderation is the watch word.
