Coffee during pregnancy is safe: A new study failed to find a strong link between coffee consumption during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental difficulties in children, but researchers advise pregnant women to continue following the medical guidelines on caffeine consumption.
Dr Gunn-Helen Moen and PhD student Shannon D’Urso from UQ’s Institute of Molecular Bioscience (IMB) conducted an in-depth genetic analysis of data from tens of thousands of families in Norway.
“Scandinavians are among the largest coffee consumers in the world, drinking at least 4 cups per day, and there is little stigma associated with drinking coffee during pregnancy,” said Dr. Moen.
“Our study used genetic data from mothers, fathers and babies as well as questionnaires on parents’ coffee consumption before and during pregnancy.
“Participants also answered questions about their child’s development up to the age of 8, including social, motor and language skills.
“Our analysis found no link between coffee consumption during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental difficulties in children.”
Researchers said physiological changes during pregnancy prevent caffeine from being broken down easily and it can cross the placenta and reach the fetus, where there are no enzymes to metabolize it.
Caffeine buildup was thought to impact fetal brain development, but Dr Moen said previous observational studies could not account for other environmental factors such as alcohol, cigarette smoke or poor diet.
“We used a method called Mendelian randomization which uses genetic variants that predict coffee drinking behavior and can distinguish the effect of different factors during pregnancy,” she said.
“This mimics a randomized controlled trial without subjecting pregnant women and their babies to harm.
“The advantage of this method is that the effects of caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes and diet can be separated in the data, so we can examine only the impact of caffeine on pregnancy .”
Researchers use genetic analysis to understand complex traits and diseases, particularly early in life. A previous study by Dr. Moen showed that coffee consumption during pregnancy did not affect birth weight, risk of miscarriage, or stillbirth.
They emphasize the importance of following health care providers’ advice to limit caffeine intake during pregnancy, as caffeine may influence other pregnancy outcomes.
Researchers are now looking to apply similar analyzes to better understand the genetic and environmental causes of neurodiversity, as well as its effects on brain development during pregnancy.
The research team included international collaborators in Norway, including Prof.
Alexandra Havdahl of the PsychGen Center for Genetic Epidemiology and Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo as well as England and Caroline Brito Nunes of the IMB, Dr Daniel Hwang and Professor David Evans.
The research was conducted using data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child (MoBa) Cohort Study.
The research paper was published in Psychological Medicine.
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