Published 28 January 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b299
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b299

Letters

Caffeine in pregnancy

Food Standard Agency’s advice on caffeine

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

The Food Standards Agency’s new advice to women on the amount of caffeine they should consume during pregnancy was not based on the results of its funded research alone.1 2 The independent experts on the Committee on Toxicity, after considering the results of this new study, as well as all of the other studies that have been published in peer reviewed literature on this subject, concluded that caffeine intake during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of fetal growth restriction. On the basis of this risk assessment considering all of the available information, the Food Standards Agency has changed its advice.

Full details of the search strategies, literature reviewed, and key studies considered are described in the Committee on Toxicity’s statement.3

Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b299

Andrew Wadge, chief scientist1

1 Food Standards Agency, London WC2B 6NH

andrew.wadge@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk

Competing interests: None declared.

  1. CARE Study Group. Maternal caffeine intake during pregnancy and risk of fetal growth restriction: a large prospective observational study. BMJ 2008;337;a2332. (3 November.)
  2. Geleijnse JM. Cut caffeine in pregnancy? BMJ 2009;337:b300.
  3. Committee on Toxicity. COT statement on the reproductive effects of caffeine. http://cot.food.gov.uk/cotstatements/cotstatementsyrs/cotstatements2008/cot200804

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