The Safety of Drinking Energy Drinks During Pregnancy

If you are pregnant, congratulations! However, your lifestyle will have to change significantly. If you drink a lot of energy drinks, this is something you'll have to stop during pregnancy. Sadly, if you intend to breastfeed your baby, you can’t use energy drinks then, either. So what's the reasoning behind this?

When pregnant, the placenta is what feeds the fetus and provides it with oxygen via the umbilical cord, which means that anything you eat or drink will be passed through to the baby, which is where the saying "eating for two" comes from. Researchers know a little bit about the effect that caffeine may have on the developing baby during pregnancy, but caffeine isn't the only thing in energy drinks. That's why it's safer to just avoid them.

Researchers tested pregnant mice to see how the effects of caffeine affected them by giving them a daily dose each day of their pregnancy. It was shown that the newborn mice were suffering from what is known as oxidative stress. This presents symptoms of stress, tissue injury, and cell damage.

Because energy drinks are not FDA-regulated, they're put in the food supplement category. Imbibing in too much caffeine may induce a miscarriage. So make sure you always know what you are drinking and read the label, but even then some ingredients aren't listed, so why take the chance? On a slightly different note, sports drinks are usually grouped with energy drinks, but they're not the same. Pregnant people can drink sports drinks as they contain electrolytes, which will help those suffering from dehydration, which often occurs during morning sickness.