PREGNANT women will be warned not to drink more than two cups of coffee a day following a study linking caffeine to low birth weight.
The Government's food standards watchdog will this week issue guidance advising women to limit caffeine consumption to 200mg a day, a third less than the previous recommended limit of 300mg.
A US study earlier this year has already linked caffeine
consumption to a higher rate of miscarriages.
The advice from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) comes a week after scientists found that a weekly glass of wine during pregnancy could help improve a baby's behaviour and vocabulary.
It warned women to restrict all products including caffeine, such as cola, energy drinks and chocolate. The limit works out at two cups of instant or brewed coffee, four cups of tea or five cans of cola. Drinks in coffee shops often contain higher caffeine levels, with a single small Starbuck slatte containing 240mg.
Andrew Wadge, the FSA's chief scientist, said: "This is new advice but these are not new risks. I want to reassure women that if you're pregnant and have been following the previous advice, the risk is likely to be tiny."
The FSA is changing its guidelines following advice from the independent committee on toxicity, which after assessing the new research and previous studies decided that caffeine could be harmful to the unborn child at lower levels.
Researchers from Leicester and Leeds universities monitored the daily caffeine intake of 2,500 pregnant women using questionnaires. They compared this with the birth weight of the baby, taking into account the weight and ethnic background of the mother. The research will be published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday.
Pat O'Brien, consultant obstetrician and spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said he recommended women should abstain from caffeine in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. He said: "This is a very vulnerable time for the baby, and it's when most miscarriages occur."
