If you're like many women trying to conceive, you might be interested in adjusting your diet or routine to maximize your chances of getting pregnant. While it's probably fine to indulge in a small amount of caffeine during this time, you might want to avoid consuming large quantities of coffee or other caffeinated food and drink, as caffeine can impact your ability to conceive and affect your early pregnancy.
Caffeine As A Drug
The caffeine molecule responsible for the stimulating effect of coffee, tea and some sodas binds to receptors in the brain and nervous system. This stimulates certain neural pathways, leading to activation of the so-called "fight or flight" response. When you're scared or startled, or in the event of an emergency, your nervous system increases your heart rate, your respirations, and your blood flow pattern to help you avoid danger. Caffeine has these same effect on your body.
Caffeine and Conception
There's some evidence that suggests caffeine might negatively impact your ability to get pregnant, according to Drs. Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz in their book "You: Having A Baby." This is particularly true if you're a heavy user of caffeine and typically consume many cups a day. Lighter users don't seem to be as affected by caffeine with regard to their ability to conceive or to early pregnancies.
Risk of MIscarriage
One of the biggest problems caffeine can cause as you try to get pregnant is that it can lead to increased risk of miscarriage. Roizen and Oz note that unlike alcohol, which causes birth defects that become more severe with increasing alcohol use, caffeine appears to have an "all-or-nothing" effect on a pregnancy. That is to say, it either does nothing at all or it causes a miscarriage. Since your baby is most susceptible to miscarriage very early on -- before you even know you're pregnant -- you might want to limit or curtail your caffeine use.
Vitamin Deficiency
Caffeine can increase the effects of nutritional deficiencies, particularly if you don't eat a diet high in vitamins and minerals to begin with. For instance, a 1990 article in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" notes that high levels of caffeine consumption in rats increases the likelihood of cellular changes that can lead to cancer and cell death, particularly if the rats are also deficient in folic acid, as many women are prior to becoming pregnant.
Recommendations
Roizen and Oz suggest that it's probably safe to drink a small amount of caffeine if you're trying to conceive -- they recommend no more than one or two small cups of coffee a day. To be very safe, you could give up caffeine until after you conceive -- and perhaps until the end of the first trimester -- then reintroduce small amounts on an occasional basis.
References
- "You: Having A Baby"; Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.; 2009
- "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences"; Cytogenetic damage induced by folate deficiency in mice is enhanced by caffeine; J. T. MacGregor, et al; December 1990
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