Is It Safe to Drink Green Tea During Pregnancy?
Green tea is highly beneficial to the body. But is it also safe for a pregnant woman to take it? The suspicion that it might not be safe is because there is a little quantity of caffeine in green tea. However, there is no official advice that says you should stop drinking green tea during pregnancy. So there’s no harm in enjoying a cup or two.
Still, you shouldn’t drink too much green tea, as it contains only a little less caffeine than standard tea, depending on how it’s brewed. Keep to a limit of 200mg of [3] caffeine a day, which is about three or four cups of green tea. This 200mg limit should include all sources of caffeine though, so count coffee, soft drinks, cola, energy drinks, and chocolate in your daily amount.
Caffeine is considered a stimulant. It can freely cross the placenta and enter the baby’s bloodstream. What makes caffeine not safe for your baby is that, unlike an adult, your baby may not be able to process it and also it will take a longer time for it to metabolize. So, doctors have had concerns about its impact on the developing baby.
Though some older research has shown conflicting evidence about the safety of drinking caffeinated beverages during pregnancy, more recent 2021 research indicates there’s no safe level. Consuming high levels of caffeine can result to severe complications and problems, some of which includes:
- miscarriages
- stillbirth
- premature birth
- low birth weight
- childhood acute leukemia [4]
Since it’s a stimulant, caffeine might help keep you awake, but it also can raise your blood pressure and heart rate. This might all be OK at first, but as your pregnancy progresses, your body’s ability to break down caffeine slows down. You might feel jittery, have trouble sleeping, or experience heartburn if you drink too much. Caffeine can also cause you to release a lot of water, this is because it is diuretic. It is advised that you drink a lot of water to replace water loss as a result of caffeine.
If you are going to take any amount of caffeine at all, it is important that you discuss with your doctor about how much you can drink. This includes green tea and other caffeinated drinks. Your doctor may give you the OK to have a cup or so per day or a few times per week. Sometimes to be safe, especially if there are any underlying health conditions, your doctor will advise that you drink caffeine at all.