Researchers compared such lifestyle factors as cigarette use, caffeinated beverage consumption and multivitamin use.
Beware parent-to-be! A recent study has revealed that a woman is more likely to miscarry if she and her partner drink more than two caffeinated beverages a day during the weeks leading up to conception.
The study conducted by the researchers at the National Institutes of Health and Ohio State University also revealed that women, who drank more than two daily caffeinated beverages during the first seven weeks of pregnancy, were also more likely to miscarry. However, women who took a daily multivitamin before conception and through early pregnancy were less likely to miscarry than women who did not.
First author Germaine Buck Louis said that their findings provide useful information for couples who are planning a pregnancy and who would like to minimise their risk for early pregnancy loss. The researchers analysed data from the Longitudinal Investigation of Fertility and the Environment (LIFE) Study, which was established to examine the relationship between fertility, lifestyle and exposure to environmental chemicals.
For the current study, researchers compared such lifestyle factors as cigarette use, caffeinated beverage consumption and multivitamin use among 344 couples with a singleton pregnancy from the weeks before they conceived through the seventh week of pregnancy.
Because their study found caffeine consumption before pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of miscarriage, it?s more likely that caffeinated beverage consumption during this time directly contributes to pregnancy loss.
Dr. Buck Louis said that their findings also indicate that the male partner matters as well. Male preconception consumption of caffeinated beverages was just as strongly associated with pregnancy loss as females.
The research is published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
