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saturday may 312003 19 economist sun stouffville tribune getting jitters over caffeine fjmqinlar vf addictive dtyg affect all people i by linda johnson l-hz- staff writer for the most part caffeine is an equal opportunity health hazard whether youre a man or woman drinking too much coffee keeps you awake at night it causes your heart to race and makes you nervous although the dangers should nt be enough to keepanyone awake at night women do have extra reasons to be cautious about excessive consumption of caf- feine the keyword is excessive even during pregnancy when most women worry about the effects of chemicals on their baby moder ate caffeine intake should not cause concern dr cynthia nicholas said while top much caffeine has been linked toan added risk of miscarriage a woman would have to drink about 10 cups of coffee a day to risk losing the baby the richmond hill obstetrician and gynecologist said and most people dont drink 10 cups of coffee a day dr nicholas recommends her expectant patients avoid taking in more than 150 milligrams of caf feine or two cups of instant cof- fee a day if theyre cola drinkers its equal to about four cans of pop however many of her patients stopvdrinking coffee in the first months of pregnancy anyway she said they cant stand the smell of coffee it makes them ill though caffeine may cause miscarriages in the early stages of pregnancy drinking coffee i later in the pregnancy does not lead to birth defects dr nicholas said there is also ho evidence to show caffeine increases infertility or low birthweight babies but women who are breast feeding may want to cut down on their caffeine it can cause the baby to be irritable and colicky so some women avoid cof fee she said if they want to sleep at night york central hospital clinical dietitian polly simowibowo displays several common everyday fc7 th products that jskl contain caffeine including mwssm many over-the- counter medications staff photosteve somerville a fiveounce cup of drip coffee has 115 mg of caffeine the same size of instant coffee has 65 mg tea has 40 to 60 nig and a tin of colahas40mg drinking top much coffee and tea can have indirect subtle effects on a womans health said polly simowibowo a clinical dieti tian atyork central hospital for instance caffeine hinders the maintenance of proper fluid levels in the body fluids create the enzymes our bodiesneed to digest food so not producing enough enzymes could indirectly lead toproblemsin the digestive system as a diureti6jcaffeine encour ages fluid lpssav drinking a lot of coffee often replaces better more beneficial fluids which an expectant mother needs- j when a person is drinking a lot of coffee theyre not getting see caffeine pagell york regions autism guide first in ontario by mitchell brown staff writer when cindi buick didnt bring a train into a restaurant it was a crisis one day we were out at the mall she recalls we went to a restaurant for lunch and we werent planning to do that my son looked at me and said can thave traiii please she didnt have the toy and a few tense moments followed before they were able to work outa solution it may not sound like a big deal but families of autistic children face these kinds of crises every day arid while many parents may wish parenting came with a manual thats now reality for parents looking for resources to deal with their autisticehil- j dren a lot of this information is out there in bits and pieces ms buick head of the autism society of ontarios york region chapter said but as a parent having to go toj50 different sources to find the right infor- mation is not an effective use of my time thats y we pulled it together knowing we had to reinvent the wheel every time we were looking for a service oranidea k the 250page guidebook includes chapters from how to find the most effective medical treatment to toilet training and what to dp when a child starts acting out in public its the first time a manual by and for parents has been compued m ontario says liz cohen one of its creators adding other provmcial- chapters have i already shown an interest inadapting it for their clients we wanted to ensure there was a jptiji of parent perspective mat it wasnt jiist some guy behind a desk saying if you do this your life will be goodshe saiclw we wanted to indude practical hints we wanted it to be positive and we i wanted it to give people everything they needed to know and be realistic at the same time v i the society officially unveiled the guidebook- at iits richmond hill office tuesday v autisma neurological disorder that seeaimsmpage2i r w