My wife and I saw this news report and she just laughed. We have two children and she said she was 'heavily caffeinated' (her words) throughout both pregnancies. She did state that if you are already a high risk for miscarriages than yes it will further increase with any foreign substance, including caffeine.

~Tablebread
http://tablebread.blogspot.com

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I am not a woman, but this does not surprise me a lot. Caffeine is a powerful neurotoxin, it is found in plants as an insecticide to kill insects. The only reason we don't think of it as a powrful drug is because it is so pervasive in our culture with teas, coffees and cocoa.

I don't know if using scare tactics is the best way to get people to stop drinking caffeine, but I am not surprised by the findings.

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First, 200 mg of caffeine is one *large* cup of joe, or two smaller ones. Or 3-4 cups of Coke.

Also, although 1000 participants seems like a large study, it's not really enough to get solid data when you're worried about a bunch of other factors. Like, age, previous miscarriages, sugar intake, hydration, quality of diet, etc., any of which may be independently correlated with caffeine intake. So, although caffeine may well increase miscarriage rates, it's a long way for proven. Incidentally, I'm not sure if caffeine intake of that level causes significant numbers of birth defects. If it doesn't, then it's somewhat hard to figure how miscarriage rates would double without causing other problems.

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One story I read on this study said the researchers did not take other factors into account, like whether or not the women were smoking during the pregnancy. A huge chunk of the world's population drinks tea all day and has for millenia, but the human race hasn't died out yet. I wouldn't freak out over a little daily caff just yet.

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Morning sickness is highly correlated with successful pregnancy. People who are morning sick drink less coffee. The study doesn't take any of this into account. It is not a large or comprehensive study, it was a phone survey. Perhaps it's someone's pilot study: an attempt to get funding to do a real study.

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Yes, I absolutely do think that scare tactics are used to get women to consume/not consume (mostly not) certain things during pregnancy. This applies not just to caffeine, but also alcohol, sugar, cheese, fish... The list goes on.

Here are my problems with studies like these. First, the study, upon closer examination, singles out one factor--caffeine--without taking into account others. We are so motivated to look for easy answers and think in terms of good/evil that we completely forget that the human body is a system that is affected my many different variables. I also think we want to be able to control essentially uncontrollable solutions, and we want it to be easy, as in, ingest no caffeine and you'll have a healthy pregnancy! The converse is, of course, ingest caffeine and if something bad happens, it's your fault and you're a bad mother. I really think this attitude is bad for pregnant women and produces a lot of needless anxiety.

I'm currently 8 months pregnant, and my rule of thumb has been moderation and pay attention to what my body is telling me. So far, I think this has served me far better than these unending surveys.

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Just another reason to not have children. I'll take my Venti Macchiato thank you.

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The bottom line is there is a lot unknown about pregnancy. Medicine relies on evidence based guidelines to treat and manage conditions, including pregnancy, and one study does not make a conclusive statement about anything.
That being said... women are advised, when trying to conceive, to cut out alcohol and caffeine. I made the switch to decaf four months before I started trying, so it's no problem now. And since I plan to nurse my baby, I wouldn't be able to drink regular coffee anyway.
I still "slip up" and have a Diet Coke once in a while, but only a little bit at a time. Everything in moderation.

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