Yes, I'm posting a real news article here. I took one look at it and
I thought, "Laur -- err, Lorelai and Luke are going to have a really,
really, REALLY difficult time trying to conceive. And that's not even
considering that they argue too much."
-- Rob
Pregnancy Problems Tied to Caffeine
By DENISE GRADY
Published: January 21, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/health/21caffeine.html?ex=1358571600&en=16e2399b4edbb8b4&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Too much caffeine during pregnancy may increase the risk of
miscarriage, a new study says, and the authors suggest that pregnant
women may want to reduce their intake or cut it out entirely.
Many obstetricians already advise women to limit caffeine, though the
subject has long been contentious, with conflicting studies, fuzzy
data and various recommendations given over the years.
The new study, being published Monday in the Journal of Obstetrics and
Gynecology, finds that pregnant women who consume 200 milligrams or
more of caffeine a day — the amount in 10 ounces of coffee or 25
ounces of tea — may double their risk of miscarriage.
Pregnant women should try to give up caffeine for at least the first
three or four months, said the lead author of the study, Dr. De-Kun
Li, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at the Kaiser
Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.
“If, for whatever reason, they really can’t do it, think of cutting to
one cup or switching to decaf,” Dr. Li said. “Stopping caffeine really
doesn’t have any downside.”
Professional groups like the American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine have
not taken official positions on caffeine, representatives said.
On Friday, the March of Dimes Web site said most experts agreed that
the amount of caffeine found in 8 to 16 ounces of coffee a day was
safe. It noted that some studies had linked higher amounts to
miscarriage and low birth weight, but stated: “However, there is no
solid proof that caffeine causes these problems. Until more is known,
women should limit their caffeine intake during pregnancy.”
Now, having reviewed the new study, the March of Dimes plans to change
its message, to advise women who are pregnant or trying to conceive to
limit their daily caffeine intake to 200 milligrams or less, said
Janis Biermann, its senior vice president of education and health
promotion.
“Women do need good guidance,” she said.
Dr. Li’s study included 1,063 pregnant women who were interviewed once
about their caffeine intake. At the time of the interview, their
median length of pregnancy was 71 days. But 102 had already miscarried
— not surprising, because most miscarriages occur very early in
pregnancy. Later, 70 more women miscarried, for a miscarriage rate of
16 percent for the group — a typical rate.
Of 264 women who said they had used no caffeine, 12.5 percent had
miscarriages. But the miscarriage rate was 24.5 percent in the 164
women who consumed 200 milligrams or more per day. The increased risk
was associated with caffeine itself and not with other known risk
factors like the mother’s age or smoking habits, the researchers said.
Dr. Li said the study answered an important question that previous
research had left unresolved. Women who have morning sickness are less
likely to miscarry than those who do not, possibly because the same
hormonal changes that cause nausea and vomiting contribute to a
healthy pregnancy. But some researchers said morning sickness could
lead to confusing results in caffeine studies. These researchers
argued that because they feel ill, some women may consume less
caffeine. That tendency may make it appear that they are less likely
to miscarry because they avoid caffeine, when the reason is actually
that they began with healthier pregnancies.
Dr. Li said he and his colleagues had determined that the risk from
caffeine was real and could not be explained away by different rates
of morning sickness.
Dr. Carolyn Westhoff, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and
epidemiology, at Columbia University Medical Center, had reservations
about the study, noting that miscarriage is difficult to study or
explain. Dr. Westhoff said most miscarriages resulted from chromosomal
abnormalities, and there was no evidence that caffeine could cause
those problems.
“Just interviewing women, over half of whom had already had their
miscarriage, does not strike me as the best way to get at the real
scientific question here,” she said. “But it is an excellent way to
scare women.”
She said that smoking, chlamidial infections and increasing maternal
age were stronger risk factors for miscarriage, and ones that women
could do something about.
“Moderation in all things is still an excellent rule,” Dr. Westhoff
said. “I think we tend to go overboard on saying expose your body to
zero anything when pregnant. The human race wouldn’t have succeeded if
the early pregnancy was so vulnerable to a little bit of anything.
We’re more robust than that.”
--
LORELAI: I am so done with plans. I am never, ever making one again.
It never works. I spend the day obsessing over why it didn't work
and what I could've done differently. I'm analyzing all my shortcomings
when all I really need to be doing is vowing to never, ever make a plan
ever again, which I'm doing now, having once again been the innocent
victim of my own stupid plans. God, I need some coffee.
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