Decaf coffee OK?

[Mandy73]

Got my first BFP ever 6 hours ago after 11 cycles TTC . Seems to be a lot of scary advice on coffee linked to MCs around and I'm wondering if it would be idiotic of me to have one cup of decaf + milk/day. Have tried to google for advice on decaf & not found much . Have you cut all tea, coke & coffee, decaf or not?
Many thanks. x

[Yarnie]

Hi

This doesn't quite answer your questions, but I though it might be of interest.

My DF is a pharma analyst and looked up the study data on caffeine. He found that less than 200mg to 300mg of caffeine has NO effect on miscarriage or fertility.

By % concentration espresso has more caffeine than say filter coffee BUT, espresso only comes in a small volume.

It also seems to depend on what coffee you take, with arabica coffees
having generally 50% less caffeine than robusta coffees.

Bascially a single shot of espresso is probably around 100mg (probably an over estimate for arabica coffee). So you could safely have 2 or 3 without having to worry about it.

[bluestarlavender]

Out of interest...is it the caffeine that's linked to miscarriage?? If so, then decaf should be okay...right?

[MrsTittleMouse]

Yes, it's the caffeine - so tea, cola and chocolate all count.
Congratulations, by the way!

[bluestarlavender]

Found this about caffeine: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1576110/Drinking-coffee-'can-double-miscarriage-risk'.html

I think the less caffeine the better, but decaf in moderation is probably okay.

[Yarnie]

That's right. Decaf should be fine. It does contain some caffeine, but given that you could drink a couple of regular espressos and be fine, decaf won't cause you any problems - except that it has its own associated risks, but really, most things are bad for you if not taken in moderation.

[Mandy73]

Thanks lovelies,
yup perhaps I should have posted it in 'pregnancy'
Goes to show

1. How at home I feel here
   
2. How in disbelief I am

[Yarnie]

BSL That article reinforces what I said which was that drinking in excess of c.200-300mg of coffee a day can increase your risk of miscarriage. Saying that "two cups" can increase your risk is not helpful - do they mean two espresso cups, or two mega Starbucks ginormous cups? Also, the empirical data show NO increase in the risk of miscarriage when less than 200mg is imbibed. It's not a sliding scale.

Ideally, of course, have to add in all the caffeine you take in, e.g. in chocolate, etc.

[nomoremagnolia]

I was advised not to exceed 2 cups of 'proper' coffee a day - which they said equated to roughly five cups of instant coffee or tea or cans of coke. So I generally had three or four cups of tea and one coke (diet coke still has caffeine in it BTW) per day.

[daisy5]

Yarnie - What are the associated risks with decaf coffee?