This article is in the July 2005 edition of American Baby magazine on page 20.
Here is the article:
" With its heart-healthy and cancer-preventative antioxidants, green tea is great for your body--but only after you've given birth. Why?
Past research by the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health found that women who consume one to two cups of tea per day within three months of conception and in their first trimester have double the risk of having a baby with spina bifida, a neural tube defect associated with the folic acid deficiency; those who have three or more cups have triple the risk. The data the findings were based on did not differentiate between types of teas.
' This was a primary study that didn't account for factors like the intake of folic acid and multivitamins' says lead author Adolfo Correa-Villasenor, MD.
But a new study finds a closer link between green tea, specifically, and nerual tube defects. Spanish and British researchers found that an antioxidant in green tea inhibits folic activity, ehich is needed for all cell growth, and is critical for a developing embryo in early pregnancy."