CNN —
Starting the day with a hot cup of caffeinated coffee or tea may sound divine to some, but it could have negative effects on pregnant women’s children, according to a new study.
Children exposed to small amounts of caffeine before birth were found to be closer, on average, than children of people who did not consume caffeine while pregnant, according to the study published Monday in JAMA Network Open.
Children of parents who consumed caffeine while in the womb were found to be closer in height at age 4 than those whose parents did not – and the gap widened every year until age 8, according to the lead author Dr. Jessica Gleason, perinatal epidemiologist.
“To be clear, these are not huge height differences, but there are these small height differences between the children of people who consumed caffeine during pregnancy,” said Gleason, who is a researcher at the Eunice Kennedy National Institute of Child Health. Shriver. and Human Development.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists currently recommends limiting caffeine consumption to less than 200 milligrams per day during pregnancy.
For context, a cup of caffeinated coffee typically has about 75 milligrams of caffeine, a cup of instant coffee has about 100 milligrams and a cup of filtered coffee has about 140 milligrams, according to the Cleveland Clinic. And even chocolate has about 31 milligrams of caffeine.
However, the differences found in the most recent study were found even in children of parents who drank less than half a cup of coffee a day while pregnant — well below current guidelines, Gleason said.
It is unclear whether this study effectively shows causality between maternal caffeine consumption and child height, according to Dr. Gavin Pereira, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Curtin University in Australia. Pereira was not involved in the study.
“The association observed in this study may be explained by the existence of a common cause of both caffeine consumption and growth restriction, e.g. poverty, stress and nutritional factors,” Pereira said in a statement to the Science Media Centre.
If shorter height in early childhood persists into adulthood, there would be a possibility that these children would face the risk of poor cardiometabolic outcomes, such as heart disease and diabetes, associated with shorter stature.
But there’s still no way to know whether the difference will continue into adulthood, and studies like this one that focus on population outcomes aren’t cause for panic for individual families, Gleason said.
These population-level trends should instead be taken alongside other research so agencies can reevaluate their recommendations, Gleason said.
In the past, there were inconsistent studies on whether caffeine consumption during pregnancy had an impact on the fetus, but the evidence has been accumulating in recent years, Gleason said.
A 2015 meta-analysis that reviewed all existing research found a dose-response association between caffeine consumption and smaller birth size. And a 2020 study revealed that there is no safe level of caffeine for a developing fetus.
Even without the panic that Gleason warned about, some people may want to cut back on caffeine—and then find that’s easier said than done.
Remember, caffeine is found in coffee, tea, soft drinks, energy drinks and shots, as well as cocoa and chocolate. It is also found in fortified snack foods, some energy bars and even some pain relievers. (For a more extensive list of caffeine content from various sources, check out the chart from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.)
A 2016 Johns Hopkins University study found that it was helpful for people to identify situations or moods in which they are more likely to crave caffeine to avoid situations that trigger cravings, especially during the first few weeks of modifying caffeine use. Caffeine drinkers could also have a plan for when cravings occur, such as taking a five-minute relaxation break that includes deep breathing exercises.
Remember to always discuss any major changes in your lifestyle or diet with your healthcare provider first, as the changes may affect your mood or medical conditions.
