Tea During Pregnancy: What Everybody Ought To Know
With tea being a source of caffeine its often asked whether its safe to drink tea in pregnancy. Although the levels of caffeine in tea are much lower than in coffee (half in some cases) the delicate balance required for a babies safe development can all to easily be interrupted. Never one to shy away from answering a question I decided to do some homework and here’s the facts…
Although previously it was seen as preferable to cut caffeine entirely this was only due to a lack of studies and so scientists erred on the side of caution. However, there’s increasing evidence that moderate caffeine intake is safe for your developing baby.
Moderate caffeine intake is about 6 cups of black tea per day.
However, It’s often difficult to get an accurate handle on how much caffeine is in each cup of tea or coffee so the above may not be 100%. If you want to be completely safe then there’s a variety of other paths to take…
Green tea contains much less caffeine than black tea and so you’ll be safe drinking more. The average amounts of caffeine in various teas is:
- US Tea (black): 40mg
- Imported Tea (black): 60mg
- Green Tea: 15mg
So unless you have a severe addiction to green tea and can go through 10 cups per sitting – you should be completely safe drinking green tea during pregnancy. In fact it could be beneficial to your baby with a selection of powerful antioxidants.
Alternatives
Decaffeinate
When it comes to tea I’d recommend decaffeinating it yourself rather than getting the decaffeinated variety as they use powerful solvents to ‘wash’ the leaves of the caffeine and although no health risks have been associated with this I think its safe to say that washing with water is much better.
So to get caffeine out of your tea simply steep the tea in warm water for 30 seconds before making your proper cup of tea with it. Caffeine ‘leeches’ out quicker than the flavour so this is a good way to DIY decaffeinate your tea during pregnancy.
Herbal
You could also go down the herbal tea route. Before dismisisng this because none of the varieties are your beloved tea I’d give them a try because I’ve often found a huge variety of nice fruity teas this way. It opens whole new avenues for you.
Bad Herbs
What you don’t want to do is replace your tea during pregnancy with a much worse herb or tonic. So plants such as ephedra (ma huang), cohosh and mugwort are best left on the shelf. You should be fine with fruit teas though.
please let me know if drinking green tea is okay (your own suggestion)
i really do like having green tea while i am pregnant
i am about 5 weeks pregnant
pls reply
Hello Virashka.
Green tea is perfectly safe during pregnancy as long as you drink no more than 10 cups an hour.
Hi,
I mistakenly drank 4oz. of chinese herbal tea for allergies during my second trimester. Will this amount hurt the baby?
Green tea is REALLY not recommended during pregnancy:
Green tea is rich in antioxidants, and has a host of health benefits relating to dental health, blood sugar levels, cholesterol, and weight loss. But researchers have found, whilst examining the active constituent of green tea, the epigallocatechins, or EGCG for short, that it may affect the way the body uses folate. Folate is important for pregnant women as it prevents neural tube birth defects in babies.
The neural tubes in babies are more or less completely formed in the first few weeks. Most women don’t even know they’re pregnant while this crucial stuff is being formed (which is why they recommend you take prenatal pills if you COULD get pregnant, even if you’re not planning it). Basically, the marginal amount of EGCG in a cup of green tea won’t do you much damage if you’re taking your pills regularly and eating well. I think only the most paranoid or precautious mothers should bother avoiding it.