by Louise-Anne Geddes, Mindful Mum, 1st December 2011

The research is published in Royal Society of Chemistry’s Food and Function journal, and found that a lot of consumers were in fact unaware of the levels of caffeine in the drinks they bought from high street chains.  Analysis of coffee from 20 commercial providers found that there were six fold differences in caffeine levels between those sampled.

Caffeine levels

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommends consuming no more than 200mg of caffeine per day during pregnancy.  However, one of the espressos sampled (which came from the Glasgow based Patisserie Francoise, according to the Independent newspaper) contained 322mg of caffeine, with a further three containing over the recommended 200mg.   The FSA warn that too much caffeine could result in miscarriage or lower birth weight in the child, which can increase the risk of some health conditions in later life.

Misleading

The study states that:

“This snap-shot of high-street espresso coffees suggests the published assumption that a cup of strong coffee contains 50 mg caffeine may be misleading. Consumers at risk of toxicity, including pregnant women, children and those with liver disease, may unknowingly ingest excessive caffeine from a single cup of espresso coffee. As many coffee houses prepare larger volume coffees, such as Latte and Cappuccino, by dilution of a single or double shot of espresso, further study on these products is warranted. New data are needed to provide informative labelling, with attention to bean variety, preparation, and barista methods”.

Help and advice

Mindful Mum nutritionist Charlotte Stirling Reed says:

“In small amounts caffeine is not harmful but too much can have detrimental effects on your baby. The Department of Health recommend drinking no more than two mugs of regular coffee per day which makes this new research particularly worrying. Many other foods and medications also contain caffeine and so it is easy to see how someone may exceed their recommended 200mg/day limits (especially in light of this new research).

The best advice is to always ask about the caffeine content of a specific beverage before you buy from coffee shops. If the amount is unknown it is probably best to avoid. As this study points out, there is huge variation between brands and different types of coffee and it is always better to be safe rather than sorry.

Further information

For more information about coffee consumption in pregnancy see Can I drink coffee during pregnancy?

Source: Food and Function, Espresso coffees, caffeine and chlorogenic acid intake: potential health implications, 30 November 2011

Photography: Shuttermonkey @Flickr