health

Proceed with caution: The tea that's making women pregnant.

 

A new diet tea is causing an unexpected side-effect for its users.

At 26 years old, babies were the last thing on Naomi’s mind.

In fact, she and her partner of two years had only recently moved in with his parents in order to save money for a home of their own.

However, Naomi had a little habit for a certain type of tea.

“I have been drinking Bootea for the past 6 months or so for about 2 weeks of every month,” Naomi explained on NetMums.com.

“Like every young girl, I am conscious about my weight and had done plenty of research into a new ‘fad’ of detox tea to help lose a couple of extra pounds….Or I thought I had!!!!

“Bootea seemed perfect they market it so well, all my favourite celebs with healthy eating and exercise were looking great, why couldn’t I have a little extra help??? like many others I didn’t think of reading the FAQs or the side effects!”

Image: Instagram @booteauk.

This ‘side-effect’ included that Naomi was now pregnant — quite the surprise considering she was also taking the contraceptive pill.

Read more: The 4 fad diets you should definitely NOT try. But I did.

As it turns out, Naomi is not the only woman who has found herself in this puzzling situation.

Two weeks into a 28-day Bootea detox ‘Skye’ visited the brand’s FAQs and discovered her Bootea may be interfering with her pill. She immediately went off the tea — but her period never came.

“I thought it couldn’t be possible, my husband is in the army and we only saw each other twice that month! Surely not?!?!?” She wrote on the same website as Naomi.

Following her Bootea detox, Skye fell pregnant with her third child.

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pregnant detox tea
Image: Skye K netmums.com

‘Sophie’ had a similar story.

“So after having my little girl in 2014 I wanted to lose weight for the summer of 2015, (so) I started Bootea and really liked it, I could see results and it tasted nice! Then I missed my period and thought it was strange as I was on the pill (and) after I waited and it didn’t show! Now me and my hubby have a 13 month old and im 2 months pregnant!!”

Related content: “I tried the Gwyneth Paltrow detox and lived to tell the tale. Just.”

‘Amy S’ also chimed in: “I’ve been on the pill for almost 14 years!! 28 days of boo tea… PREGNANT! 14 weeks and counting!”

All of these women have one major question for Bootea: why isn’t this information on the product?

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Lindsay Lohan is a fan of Bootea. Image: Instagram @booteauk.

Mamamia reached out to the UK-based brand, but have not received a response.

Bootea does, however, disclose a warning on the FAQs page on its website.

“Bootea may affect the accuracy of the pill IF you take your pill in the morning within four hours of the laxative effect,” the company warns.

“If you take the pill at night you will be fine as it takes around 10 hours for the laxative effect of the night time tea bags to set in.

“We are sorry but we cannot comment on other forms of contraception and would ask you to consult your doctor, nurse or pharmacist with the list of our ingredients on our ‘About’ page.”

Dr Gino Pecoraro from the Australian Medical Association explains pregnancy is indeed a risk if the pill is prevented from being absorbed into the body — as was occurring with consumers of Bootea.

Image: Instagram @booteauk.

 

Bootea and other detox substances work by increasing your metabolism and causing your body to work faster to excrete its contents.

“It’s the same as if the woman is vomiting or experiencing diarrhoea,” Dr Gino Pecoraro told Mamamia.

“By [the tea] causing diarrhoea you don’t have time to absorb the pill.”

In order to eliminate this risk, Dr Pecoraro recommends a ‘long acting reversible contraception’ or contraceptive implant, like Mirena or Implanon.

“It’s cheaper, more cost-effective, and you don’t have to worry about what you’re going to do [in terms of keeping up with your contraceptive on holidays,” he said.

But if you still plan on drinking Bootea – don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Have you ever fallen pregnant unexpectedly?

Related content:

When a baby wasn’t part of your plans.

10 things about pregnancy nobody tells you.

The pregnancy project: “I pledge love to my post-baby body.”

Should you ever, ever share your birth story?