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Heavy Coffee Drinking Raises Stillbirth Risk--Study
Pregnant women who drink eight cups of coffee a day could be more than doubling their risk of having a stillbirth, Danish scientists said on Thursday.
A cup or two of coffee is not harmful but researchers at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark said the risk of stillbirth increases with consumption.
"What we show is that drinking four to seven cups a day increases the risk of stillbirth around 80 percent and drinking eight or more cups a day more than doubles the risk," Dr. Kristin Wisborg, a pediatrician at the hospital, said in an interview.
Her findings are based on a study of more than 18,000 pregnant women who filled in questionnaires about their medical history, smoking habits, and coffee and alcohol consumption before giving birth at the hospital.
Wisborg and her colleagues found no link between drinking coffee and infant death in the first year of life.
But Roger Cook, a spokesman for the British Coffee Association, said pregnant women should not be alarmed by the findings.
"The results of this study do not alter the advice given to pregnant women by the Food Standards Agency who state that 300 mg caffeine -- equivalent to three mugs or four cups of coffee per day -- is perfectly safe and will have no adverse effect on the mother or the fetus," he said in a statement. ( Read more... )
Pregnant women who drink eight cups of coffee a day could be more than doubling their risk of having a stillbirth, Danish scientists said on Thursday.
A cup or two of coffee is not harmful but researchers at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark said the risk of stillbirth increases with consumption.
"What we show is that drinking four to seven cups a day increases the risk of stillbirth around 80 percent and drinking eight or more cups a day more than doubles the risk," Dr. Kristin Wisborg, a pediatrician at the hospital, said in an interview.
Her findings are based on a study of more than 18,000 pregnant women who filled in questionnaires about their medical history, smoking habits, and coffee and alcohol consumption before giving birth at the hospital.
Wisborg and her colleagues found no link between drinking coffee and infant death in the first year of life.
But Roger Cook, a spokesman for the British Coffee Association, said pregnant women should not be alarmed by the findings.
"The results of this study do not alter the advice given to pregnant women by the Food Standards Agency who state that 300 mg caffeine -- equivalent to three mugs or four cups of coffee per day -- is perfectly safe and will have no adverse effect on the mother or the fetus," he said in a statement. ( Read more... )