Food Standards Agency publishes new caffeine advice for pregant women

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued new advice to pregant women lowerng their recommended limit for the daily intake of caffeine.

The new limit is 200mg per day, down from the previous recommended limit of 300mg. Caffeine is present in coffee, tea, chocolate, some soft drinks and certain medicines. The new 200mg limit is equivalent to roughly 2 mugs of coffee per day.

The FSA took action after new research undertaken on the agency's behalf by Leicester and Leeds Universities indicated that too mush caffeine might result in a baby with low birth weight (which may in turn increase the risk of some health conditions for the baby in later life), or could possibly result in spontaneous miscarriage.

The FSA sought to reassure pregnant women who had been following the previous advice, saying that the risks were likely to be very low and they should simply reduce their intake to the new recommended level. Any pregant women still concerned are advised to consult their midwife or GP.

The new advice follows a study of 2,500 women in the UK which suggested that caffeine intake may be associated with an increased risk of foetal growth restriction. Tea was found to be the major source of caffeine for the pregnant women in the study.

Labels: baby food, caffeine in pregnancy, health, pregnancy

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