Moms who drink coffee during pregnancy are raising their babies' risk for obesity, a new study has revealed. Experts found links to caffeine and excessive weight gain in the unborn child among moms who still drank at least two cups of coffee while pregnant.
The study, published in the BJM Open journal last Monday, looked into the data of over 50,000 women and children in Norway collected from 1999 to 2008. In their 22nd week of pregnancy, the moms self-reported whether they drank caffeine -- from coffee, black tea, chocolate drinks, soft drinks or energy drinks -- and the researchers tracked the growth patterns of their babies from six weeks to 8 years old.
Some 44 percent of moms said that they drank at least half a cup to two cups of coffee regularly during pregnancy. Some seven percent drank three cups on average, while three percent drank more than three cups a day.
The researchers learned that pregnant moms who had the highest caffeine intake had a 66 percent chance of giving birth to a baby with excessive weight during their first year. Pregnant moms with moderate caffeine intake had a 10 to 30 percent risk of having an obese child.
Children who had very high exposure to caffeine in their mom's womb weighed at least 480 grams more than those who had low levels of caffeine exposure in the womb when they reached the age of 8. The risk of obesity also rose when the children reached 10 years old due to sedentary behavior.
"This is an important finding, given that about 75% of women drink coffee during pregnancy and also because of our obesity problem," perinatal epidemiologist Dr. De-Kun Li, who was not part of the study, told CNN. "For childhood obesity, there are many risk factors that happen during pregnancy," he added.
Study authors said their findings supported the recommendation that pregnant moms should reduce their caffeine intake to less than 200 milligrams a day, or below two cups of coffee. The research also supported an earlier study in 2015 that stated caffeine in pregnancy increases childhood obesity risks to as much as 87 percent.
"Caffeine in utero may change how the brain develops," public health expert Lisa Bodnar told Reuters. "This is important because the brain has a strong influence over appetite."
