A number of research has touted the health benefits of drinking coffee but findings of a new study suggest that having too much of this caffeinated drink may not be a good idea, at least if you are trying to get pregnant.
In a new study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility on March 24, researchers have found that women are at increased risk for miscarriage if she and her partner drink at least two cups daily weeks before conception.
Pregnant women who drink more than two caffeinated drinks per day during the first seven weeks of pregnancy are also likely to miscarry.
Researchers of the study tracked 344 pregnancies, 98 of which, ended in miscarriage. They found that women who were more than 35 years old had twice the risk for early miscarriage compared with younger women but drinking at least three caffeinated drinks daily increased this risk by 74 percent.
The researchers also observed that in couples where the male partner consumed more than two caffeinated beverages every day prior conception, the risk for miscarriage rises by 73 percent.
"Male partner matters, too," said study researcher Germaine Buck Louis, from the National Institutes of Health. "Male preconception consumption of caffeinated beverages was just as strongly associated with pregnancy loss as females'"
The researchers said that their findings do not prove that consuming caffeinated drinks such as coffee and tea increases risks for miscarriage but an association with increased likelihood suggests that caffeine consumption may contribute to pregnancy loss.
The study does not also mean that drinking decaf coffee would be a safer option to drinking regular coffee since the research did not have information on caffeinated drinks.
The researchers advised couples who want to have a baby to limit their caffeine intake to less than three beverages per day. Women should also consider taking daily multivitamins.
The study has also found that women who take multivitamins every day before and during pregnancy are less likely to have a miscarriage.
Women who take daily multivitamins prior to pregnancy has 55 percent less likelihood for miscarriage while those who continued to take their vitamins through their early pregnancy had 79 percent reduced risk for miscarriage.
The protective effect of multivitamins may have something to do with folate and vitamin B6, both of which have been associated with reducing risk for miscarriage.
"Couples' preconception lifestyle factors were associated with pregnancy loss, although women's multivitamin adherence dramatically reduced risk," the researchers wrote in their study. "The findings support continual refinement and implementation of preconception guidance."
