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Caffeine Intake Must be Limited During Pregnancy

Published on 23 July, 2012
Caffeine Intake Must be Limited During Pregnancy

A recent study reports that whenwomen consume caffeine during pregnancy, their children need not carry anyincreased risk for behavioral problems later in life. 

 Coffee has been getting a lot ofattention recently. Some studies say that it promotes heart health, whileothers say it reduces a person's risk for diabetes. The recent study is onemore feather to coffee's cap.

 In a study conducted on more than3,400 mothers, the researchers couldfind no evidence to suggest that maternal caffeine intake during pregnancycontributed to their children's behavioral problems.

 Study author Eva Loomans, fromTilburg University, Netherlands, points out that children of mothers who drankaround three cups of coffee a day, did not harbor greater risk of sufferingfrom behavior related problems, compared to those children whose mothers didnot drink coffee.

 However, she added that thisdidn't mean that caffeine might not be harmful as they did not consider anyother developmental issues in children, besides problematic behavior, whileconducting this study. For the time being, Loomans suggests that all pregnantwomen follow the advice given by their doctors. 

According to the NHS, pregnant women must avoid having more than200mg of caffeine per day, in other words, they must restrict themselves to12oz cup of coffee.

 So far, there is very littleevidence to suggest if a mother's caffeine intake could actually affect herchild's development. However, animal research has suggested that caffeine canimpair fetal brain development in a manner that is capable of altering theirbehavior later on life. 

 Therecent study was conducted to understand the effect of coffee on the offsprings of women who consumed coffee during pregnancy. 3,439 mothers were madeto fill detailed questionnaires regarding lifestyle and other factors relatedto their pregnancy. A follow-up was conducted when the children were the fiveor six years old, during which time both mothers and teachers were surveyedabout the children's behavioral and emotional health.

 Thereappeared to be no connection between maternal caffeine intake and the risk forhyperactivity/inattention problems, emotional symptoms, conduct problems, peerrelationship problems, overall problem behavior, or suboptimal prosocialbehavior in the children of mothers studied. However, children of mothers who consumed lots of caffeine and smokedduring pregnancy did exhibit behavioral problems.

 Loomanswarned that there is still a lot left to be elucidated about caffeine and itseffect on long-term development in children. It would be better for pregnantwomen to avoid caffeine, as studies linking caffeine intake during pregnancywith 40% greater risk of miscarriage than in women who abstained from caffeine.

 Caffeine is a neuro-stimulantthat can pass from mother to fetus through the placental blood. Duringpregnancy, the metabolism of caffeine slows down and hence it tends to hangaround for longer periods in the nervous system of the fetus. Caffeine alsoreduces blood flow to the fetus, through the placenta, and lowers fetal heartrate; this is capable of having a detrimental effect on the development of thechild.

 Scientist De-Kun Li, who authoredthe study connecting caffeine to miscarriage says, "it is premature to make any conclusion based on the finding from this[new] study, certainly not about the safety of caffeine consumption inpregnancy, even in the context of children's behavior."

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