If you're a coffee drinker but are now pregnant, you may be looking for
alternatives to fill that coffee mug hole in your morning routine. Many mum's-to-be
still want the taste of coffee and so may turn to decaf coffee as an alternative. So,
the important question becomes: is decaf coffee safe during pregnancy? Stay tuned to find out!
Hi there! A really big and warm welcome from me, Melanie McGrice.
I'm a specialist fertility and prenatal dietitian and I'm on a mission to help parents-to-be
navigate nutritional guidelines to give their baby the best possible start to life.
Pregnant mummas are advised to limit their caffeine intake to no more than
200 milligrams per day, that's equivalent to around 1-2 cups of filter coffee per day.
Although this is the official stance, there's a significant amount of research that points
to the fact that caffeinated coffee is linked to adverse health outcomes for your unborn bub,
so if you are erring on the side of caution, decaf coffee may be your next
best bet. Let's take a look at the research to see if it is suitable during pregnancy.
Firstly, how is decaf coffee made?
As caffeine is water soluble, when manufacturers create decaf coffee they always use water and
then enhance the removal of the caffeine using a decaffeinating agent such as activated charcoal,
carbon dioxide, methylene chloride or ethyl acetate. Some of these chemicals
can sound a little scary, but even when chemical solvents are used,
safety is the manufacturers first concern. The solvents that have been approved have
been deemed safe by health agencies and by the time the beans get roasted, there are
only trace amounts of solvent left and these traces are vapourised in the roasting process.
Is all the caffeine removed in these processes?
Interestingly, no matter which method is used, they cannot extract 100% of the caffeine.
Usually around 97% of the caffeine is removed but this may differ between manufacturers.
However, the amount of caffeine left in the coffee is so little that unless you are drinking
liters of decaf coffee per day, you won't come anywhere near the 200 milligram recommendation.
So although you are getting in small amounts of caffeine from your daily cuppa,
it's not enough to push you over the threshold.
So if decaf is really very low in caffeine, does this mean you can drink as much as you want?
Unfortunately the answer is no. As with everything, moderation is key!
A study done in 2016 found that drinking more than 4 cups of any type of coffee before
falling pregnant (or during early pregnancy) was associated with increased rates of miscarriages.
And, this association wasn't there when they looked at other drinks like tea and soda. This
shows us that there is some other component in coffee, besides the caffeine, that may have an
effect on a healthy pregnancy. Coffee is a complex mix of various biologically active compounds that
can affect the body in many ways, even affecting your body's production of certain hormones.
One such hormone is pregnanediol-3-glucuronide, which is essential for maintaining your pregnancy.
In one study, woman who drank the most coffee had 32% lower early pregnancy levels of this hormone
(which may be a potential reason why these women had a miscarriage).
In short, drinking more than 4 cups of coffee a day may increase your risk for a miscarriage,
especially in the early days. So my advice is to keep it to a minimum, whether it's
caffeinated or not. More research is definitely needed, but we would rather be safe than sorry!
Remember that in addition to this video and a whole bunch of other information-filled
videos on my channel, I have a host of helpful information on all my social media accounts,
so feel free to connect with me there as well. Till next time, have a great day!