Researchers warn cafes pose risk to pregnant women

HIGH street coffee shops could pose a risk to pregnant women due to large variations in caffeine content, research has claimed.

Analysis of espresso coffees from 20 shops found one with a caffeine content more than six times higher than another.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow said customers were completely unaware of the different caffeine levels.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) advises that pregnant women should restrict their average daily caffeine content to 200mg, which it suggests is roughly equivalent to two mugs.

But while a cup from Starbucks was found to have 51mg of caffeine, a Costa one had 157mg. The highest amount was 322mg, found in a cup from Glasgow-based Patisserie Francoise.

The FSA warns that too much caffeine could result in miscarriage or a baby having a lower birth weight, which can increase the risk of some health conditions in later life.

Alan Crozier, from the research team, said: “This snapshot of high street espresso coffees suggests the published assumption that a cup of strong coffee contains 50mg of caffeine may be misleading.”

The findings are published in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Food and Function journal.