The researchers analyzed data on about 2,400 four- to eight-year-olds
Even relatively small amounts of daily caffeine consumption by pregnant women – about two coffees a day – can increase the likelihood of giving birth to a child who will be shorter in childhood (up to eight), relative to the growth of children their peers whose mothers completely avoided caffeine during pregnancy, a new American scientific study shows.
The researchers, led by epidemiologist Chezica Gleason of the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, who made the relevant publication in the American medical journal “JAMA Network Open”, analyzed data on about 2,400 four- to eight-year-olds. They calculated that caffeine consumption at levels even below 200 milligrams per day leads to a difference in height of about two centimeters, comparable to that of children whose mothers smoked regularly during pregnancy.
As they pointed out, caffeine within three hours is metabolized in pregnant women mainly to paraxanthine during the first trimester of pregnancy. Both caffeine and its metabolite, paraxanthine, can cross the placenta and enter the fetus.
The study did not find, on the other hand, any significant correlation between coffee consumption by pregnant women and the birth of an overweight or obese child. Future research will investigate whether caffeine in pregnancy negatively affects a child’s height beyond childhood, into adolescence and into adulthood.
In addition to coffee, caffeine can be present in smaller amounts in other products such as chocolates and some beverages.
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