Is moderate caffeine consumption harmful during pregnancy?
Three major studies involving more than 15,000 women have found no birth defects associated with caffeine consumption. Even offspring of the heaviest coffee drinkers were not found to be at higher risk of birth defects. Similarly, evidence from other human studies continues to support the conclusion that moderate consumption of caffeine by pregnant women does not predispose the mother to spontaneous abortion or preterm delivery, nor the fetus to low birth weight. The most recent FDA animal studies have found no birth defects when rats are given high doses of caffeine in their drinking water. These results contradict earlier FDA research in 1980 that had triggered an advisory to pregnant women to avoid caffeine. The earlier study force-fed rats high doses of caffeine all at once through stomach tubes (gavage). In the later research, rats sipped similar doses of caffeine in their drinking water, but with no effects. FDA has stated that scientific evidence does not indicate caffeine adver
