Why Green Tea is Not Safe If You Are Pregnant?

When talking about green tea being so beneficial and healthy to drink, there are a few things that bother me:

What about green tea during pregnancy?
Is it safe for pregnant women to drink green tea?
Can you get pregnant if you are drinking green tea?

The answers to all these questions are NO. It is NOT safe to drink green tea while pregnant.

Even though green tea is still one of the best ways to lose weight, pregnant women should be very careful with it. Due to its unclear and still serious side effects it may cause to the baby.

Why taking folate during pregnancy is important?

All future mothers must take folate, at least during the first three months of their pregnancy, because it is very important in order to prevent neural tube defects that affect baby’s brain development.

Why Green Tea is not healthy for pregnant women and their babies?

The EGCG (Epigallocatechin gallate – main active antioxidant compound of GT) is the reason why green tea must not be used by pregnant women, because it affects the way folate is absorbed by the baby’s organism, which may cause the above said defects.

How exactly Green Tea is not healthy?

EGCG affects the baby’s absorption of folate, by binding the enzyme GHFR and inactivating it. This enzyme is important because it is involved in folate absorption in baby’s organism. When this enzyme is deactivated the baby can’t absorb folate and the protection the folate affords to the neural system of the baby is highly reduced.

Why EGCG is acting like that?

Because it is chemically similar to a compound called methotrexate. This compound binds to DHFR enzyme (dihydrofolate reductase) and this way kills cancer cells.

Because of its chemical similarity to methotrexate, the EGCG also binds to the DHFR enzyme and deactivates it this way. And I said earlier when DHFR is deactivated the baby can’t use folate from mother’s organism.

Conclusion

Although Green Tea has shown great benefits for stopping cancer cells growth if taken on regular bases, it is not good to be taken by pregnant women. The good news is that you still will be able to take your favorite cup of coffee in the morning, but only if it’s not that strong as you have used to drink it before getting pregnant.