Many Irish people enjoy a morning cup of coffee or a nice strong cup of tea in the afternoon to keep us going, but both will contain caffeine — something that’s not so good for your baby while pregnant, and may even affect your chances of conception if you drink it in large quantities.
Caffeine is also found in some energy boosting drinks, cola drinks and chocolate, so you need to look further afield than just tea and coffee if you want to reduce the amount of caffeine in your diet.
It is recommended by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland that a woman should not consume more than 200mg of caffeine per day during pregnancy. So if you like your caffeine, now while planning a pregnancy may be a good time to get your caffeine intake down to safer limits.
How much is 200mg of caffeine?
Tea
The caffeine content of a 200ml cup of tea will be about 19mg to 21mg but may vary depending on the strength of the tea and size of the mug.
Coffee
Filtered, brewed or percolated coffee generally has more caffeine than instant coffee. The caffeine content may vary between 40mg and 180mg per cup depending on the size, strength and way it was brewed. Decaffeinated coffee will have less with 4mg to 12mg per cup.
Cola
As colas are available in different strengths and sizes, the caffeine content can vary to between 11mg and 106 mg per can or bottle. A standard 500ml bottle would have between 50-107mg.
Stimulant drinks
A 250 ml can provide between 27mg and 87mg depending on the type.
Dark chocolate
A 45g bar of dark choclate may contain between 31mg to 41mg of caffeine.
