Is Green Tea Safe During Pregnancy?

When it comes to green tea and pregnancy a lot of conflicting views exist.

Although some experts have stressed the benefits of drinking green tea when expecting a baby, most researchers recommend limiting consumption during pregnancy.

We'll start with the positive side effects during pregnancy.

Benefits

* Women may suffer from gum disease during pregnancy. Green tea prevents inflammation and helps to maintain healthy teeth.

* It regulates cholesterol and prevents high blood pressure, consumption of green tea during pregnancy may be useful for pregnant women, because they have an increased risk of developing cholesterol and blood pressure problems.

* Rich in antioxidants, tea strengthens the immune system so that women are less susceptible to infections or a cold.

* Certain hormones released during pregnancy make the body resistant to insulin, which increases blood sugar (this is called gestational diabetes). In addition, it puts the child at risk for type 2-diabetes and obesity. This drink has been found effective in controlling blood sugar.

* Researchers at Oregon State University have shown that, in relation to the lung, when the mother uses (decaf or regular) green tea or its ingredients during pregnancy and lactation it provides significant cancer chemo protection to children where the ingredient EGCG was most effective. This protection would last to middle age at least.

* Often suffering from bloating, and ultimately constipation, pregnant women can benefit from green tea which is said to prevent constipation.

We've now arrived to discussing the risks.

Risks

Yes, there are risks for green tea and pregnancy. But I can tell ya that drinking one or two cups a day is unlikely to harm a child. Only when taken in large amounts it may have harmful effects on the fetus.

Why? I'll explain now.

Micronutrients, particularly folic acid (also known as vitamin B9 or folic acid) and folate (natural form) is very important during periods of rapid cell division and growth, but we also need to produce healthy red blood cells. Lack of folic acid can lead to anemia (loss of red blood cells), but also glossitis (inflammation or infection of the tongue), diarrhea, depression and confusion.

During pregnancy folic acid is even more important because it reduces the risk of neural tube defects in the fetus during the first month. These are birth defects in the brain and spinal cord, such as:

* Spina bifida: the paralysis of the nerves on the pretext of the spine (folic acid reduces the risk by 60-70% and less than optimal intake of folic acid is given about the idea that the first month).

* Anencephaly: babies are stillborn or die shortly after birth.

The problem of green tea during pregnancy is the most important antioxidants of green tea, or EGCG, inactivates folic acid.

Although not tested on humans, one of the first studies revealing how EGCG prevents cancer cells to grow suggests that it binds to the antioxidant enzyme DHFR, an enzyme involved in folate intake. When linking to it, EGCG inactivates this enzyme, which negatively affect the body's ability to use folic acid.

Another study conducted by researchers at the University of Bologna in Italy found that excessive levels of EGCG could affect the safe fertilization and the maturation of a child because EGCG depletes folid acid. However, this study was conducted in a closed environment (a laboratory) and tested only on pigs.

Tea contains small amounts of caffeine. Doctors recommend that pregnant women should limit caffeine consumption during pregnancy.

Although it may seem green tea and pregnancy only have a negative relationship, I want to emphasize that several studies on this subject reported that only large amounts of the beverage may harm the child.

How much tea a mother should drink or exactly how much folic acid is affected remains unclear.