Pregnant women told to keep coffee down to two a day

Pregnant women in Britain have been given new guidelines about drinking coffee - the new guidelines issued by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) say pregnant women should cut their caffeine intake and drink no more than two cups of coffee or four cups of tea a day.

The government agency has lowered its original recommended levels of the stimulant by a third, from a maximum of 300mg a day to 200mg and follows research by Leicester and Leeds universities linking caffeine to babies born with low birth weight.

This is important because children born with a low birth weight are more likely to suffer from health problems such as heart disease and diabetes.

Dr. Andrew Wadge the chief scientist for the FSA says pregnant women who have been following the previous advice should not panic, as the risk is small, but women should stick to a maximum of two average-sized cups of coffee per day.

The new FSA guidance means women should limit themselves to three or four cups of tea a day and watch their intake of cola, chocolate and energy drinks - the FSA says coffee bought from coffee shops may be far higher than the FSA estimates for the average-sized home-made cup.

The study which prompted the revised guidance involved 2,500 pregnant women and follows another study from University College London which has suggested drinking lightly during pregnancy cut the risk of problem behaviour and hyperactivity in boys - the study found boys born to light drinkers did better on vocabulary tests than those born to mothers who abstained completely during pregnancy.

Current medical guidelines recommend women avoid alcohol while pregnant or trying to conceive.

Research earlier this year from the U.S. found 200mg of caffeine a day doubled the risk of miscarriage.

The study will be published in the British Medical Journal this week.