I’m about 6.5 months pregnant and was making tea (as I do with some frequency) the other night and noticed that both the ginger and licorice teas that I like say not to drink them during pregnancy! In digging around it seems that too much black licorice (which is in both teas) can be bad for you. Have you come across this before? I think everything is fine, but now I’m a little concerned that I’ve been unintentionally screwing up and I need to avoid the teas I like. What about other herbal teas like chamomile or ginger?
—Anonymous Tea Drinker
You’re right that the concern with both these teas is black licorice (or, more precisely, a chemical called glycyrrhizin, for which black licorice is the most common source). There are concerns about this product in hypertension in non-pregnant people and it’s known that very high levels of consumption can cause metabolic issues for some people. There are a couple of studies that link very high levels of consumption to adverse outcomes in pregnant people or their babies. This includes one study from 2001 suggesting that high levels of consumption might lower gestational age and one from 2017, indicating that children of mothers who consume a lot of licorice might have significantly lower cognitive performance.
These studies in pregnancy seem to target very high levels of consumption — the 2017 study defines high consumption as more than 500 milligrams per week, which would be about 16 cups of licorice tea a week. Their low-exposure group still has some exposure, just less: up to the equivalent of about eight cups of tea. This population isn’t being exposed through tea but through candy. And both papers are based on the same small cohort of 1,000 Finnish women, where the high-exposure group is only about 50 people. And, of course, the licorice consumption isn’t randomized.
My overall read of this is that if you’re drinking a lot of tea with black licorice, like several cups a day, you might want to dial it back. The limitations in the research and the low concentrations of the chemical in tea suggest to me that there is no need to cut it out altogether.
In terms of other teas like chamomile or ginger, there is no reason to worry about them. Ginger tea, in particular, is often prescribed for pregnancy nausea. There are a few herbal teas — those with dong quai, or with black or blue cohosh — which are a good idea to avoid. But most teas are completely fine.
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