Couples Who Do This One Thing Might Be More Likely To Have Miscarriages

Drinking just a few caffeinated beverages a day can dramatically increase the risk of miscarriage, according to a new study.

According to "Today," a new study found women and their male partners can endanger a pregnancy by regularly consuming caffeinated beverages such as coffee, soda or energy drinks before and after conception.

Researchers examined specific dietary and drinking habits of 344 couples looking to conceive in Texas and Michigan. Of the 344 pregnancies, a total of 98 women had miscarriages -- 28 percent.

Researchers discovered the risk of miscarriage increased by 74 percent for women who consumed three or more caffeinated drinks every day and by 73 percent if the men had two or more caffeinated beverages every day leading up to conception, Tech Times reports.

This study was among the first to determine male caffeine habits can affect pregnancy.

Researchers were unable to conclude caffeinated beverages directly lead to miscarriage, partially because the couples did not report what they ate or drank aside from alcohol, caffeinated beverages and fish. But, the findings do suggest a link between caffeine and miscarriage, so researchers advised couples looking to conceive to have just one or two caffeinated beverages a day.

Dr. Zev Williams of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine believes women who regularly consume caffeine should not cut out caffeine altogether when they become pregnant.

He told "Today,"

And what I do end up seeing not infrequently, an effort to really be as thorough as possible, a lot of women will go cold turkey on caffeine. And what ends up happening is invariably these women will then develop rebound headaches and take medications to treat the headaches. Those medications may be harmful.

The study additionally found women who took multivitamins every day before becoming pregnant decreased their risk of miscarriage by 55 percent. Women who continued taking multivitamins every day during the early stages of pregnancy were 79 percent less likely to miscarry.

Future studies may test whether maintaining a healthy diet in general can affect the likelihood of miscarriage, as well.

This study was originally published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

Citations: Caffeine linked to miscarriage and dad's habit matters, too ("Today"), Coffee And Pregnancy: Couple's High Caffeine Intake Linked To Higher Miscarriage Risk (Tech Times), Couples' pre-pregnancy caffeine consumption linked to miscarriage risk (National Institutes of Health)