Nutritional knowledge and intake of caffeine-containing beverages among pregnant and breastfeeding women

Introduction
Caffeine is a psychoactive substance that has the potential to impact the normal progression of pregnancy. When transferred into breast milk, it may negatively affect the infant. Therefore, the maximum safe dose is set at 200 mg per day. The objective of the study was to evaluate caffeine consumption in relation to the dose deemed safe by the European Food Safety Authority and to ascertain the correlation between nutritional awareness and caffeine intake among a group of pregnant and lactating women.

Material and methods
A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between September and November 2023 using the Computer-Assisted Web Interview method. Caffeine intake from coffee, tea, energy drinks, caffeinated beve­rages, and cocoa drinks, as well as nutritional knowledge, were assessed using a questionnaire among 80 pregnant and 159 breastfeeding Polish women.

Results
The median caffeine intake among pregnant and breastfeeding women was 106.9 mg/day and 104.3 mg/day, respectively. Sixteen per cent of the respondents exceeded the recommended safe dose of 200 mg. Forty-eight per cent of the total caffeine intake was derived from coffee, and tea was the second dietary source. Despite a good level of general nutritional knowledge, a deficiency in understanding the safe dosage of caffeine was observed. No statistically significant relationship was identified between caffeine consumption and nutritional knowledge (p > 0.05).

Conclusions
Given the low level of knowledge about the safe level of caffeine intake during pregnancy and lactation among the studied women, and the occurrence of women exceeding the safe dose of caffeine, it is necessary to implement targeted nutritional education programs for pregnant and lactating women.