ChicMe WW

US study shows drinking caffeine when pregnant can affect a child's height

By Merryn Porter |

A new study has found women who consume even a small amount of coffee each day will have shorter children.

The US study examined the link between a mother's caffeine consumption and child growth.

?It found children of women with low measured caffeine and paraxanthine (a derivative of caffeine) during pregnancy were shorter at four and eight years of age than the children of women who consumed no caffeine during pregnancy.

READ MORE: Sam and Snez Wood open up about their family's ADHD journey

The US study examined the link between a mother's caffeine consumption and child growth. ? (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The study found evidence that consuming even one-quarter of Australia's recommended caffeine intake for pregnant women, or 50 mg of caffeine a day, was enough to affect a child's height.?

In Australia, the recommended maximum limit of caffeine per day is 200mg.

This is equivalent to one cup of strong espresso style coffee, three cups of instant coffee, four cups of medium strength tea, four cups of cocoa or hot chocolate or four cans of cola.

The study found the effects of caffeine consumed by mothers when pregnant was similar to that of smoking.

READ MORE: The surprise baby names set to be extinct by 2023

The study examined the link between a child's growth and their mother's caffeine consumption. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The retrospective cohort analysis looked at 1116 mother-child pairs, with children aged four to eight measured for height and weight.

The long-term study was conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Fetal Growth Studies as part of the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes and compared two cohorts.

One cohort was from 2009-2013 at 10 sites with a follow-up measurement in 2017-2019. The second was from 1959-1965 at 12 sites with a follow-up from 1960-1974.

The current secondary analysis was conducted in 2021 and 2022.

The study found that at ages four and eight, children of women with low measured caffeine and paraxanthine during pregnancy were shorter than the children of women who consumed no caffeine during pregnancy.

The findings suggest that even small amounts of daily maternal caffeine consumption were associated with shorter stature in offspring. (Getty)

The findings suggest that even small amounts of daily maternal caffeine consumption were associated with shorter stature in offspring, which persist into childhood.

The study's authors ?said that while greater caffeine consumption in pregnancy was previously associated with reduced birth size, potential links with childhood growth had remained unclear.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the link between pregnancy caffeine and paraxanthine measures with child growth in a contemporary cohort with low caffeine consumption and a historical cohort with high caffeine consumption.

It concluded that even low amounts of caffeine was associated with shorter stature in early childhood.

While the "clinical implication of reductions in height and weight is unclear," the reductions were apparent "even with levels of caffeine consumption below clinically recommended guidelines of less than 200 mg per day."

The study referred to modest caffeine consumption as 50 mg, or half a cup of coffee a day, and said other studies had shown this was associated with lower birth weight, shorter birth length and less lean tissue mass.

While the exact reason is unclear, it said caffeine was a neural stimulant that was not metabolised by the fetus and therefore accumulated in fetal tissue.

"Given that approximately eight in 10 US pregnant women consume caffeine, it is important to determine whether in utero-caffeine exposure has long-term growth implications in offspring," the study said.

The study concluded that intrauterine exposure to caffeine and paraxanthine, even in low amounts, was associated with shorter stature in early childhood.

"The clinical implication of reductions in height and weight is unclear; however, the reductions were apparent even with levels of caffeine consumption below clinically recommended guidelines of less than 200 mg per day," it found.?

Caffeine consumption during pregnancy was associated with smaller child height. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

"Maternal caffeine consumption even in amounts lower than currently recommended guidelines of less than 200 mg per day during pregnancy was associated with smaller child height beginning at age four years and persisting to age eight years.

"Though the clinical implications of an approximately two-centimetre height difference are unclear, our findings for height are similar in magnitude to those of children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy.

"The clinical implication of this height difference is unclear and warrants future investigation."

The study's authors suggested future research should look at child growth into puberty and beyond, and if the shorter height associated with maternal caffeine consumption led to greater risk for cardiometabolic dysfunction.

However, an Australian ?professor of epidemiology and biostatistics who was not involved in the study said in a statement it was not clear the study had effectively shown a link between maternal caffeine consumption and a child's height.

Dr Gavin Pereira of Curtin University in WA said, "The correlation observed in this study can be explained by the existence of a common cause of both caffeine consumption and growth restriction e.g. poverty, stress, and dietary factors."

For a daily dose of 9Honey, subscribe to our newsletter here

Coming up with a baby name can be a tough decision for expecting parents
'My husband is named Kale. We need a unique name to match'

Property News: This $35 million-plus property is already being called one of the most iconic yet, and it doesn't even have a house on it.