Caffeine Intake During Pregnancy

Coffee consumption during pregnancy can affect the growth of babies, say researchers.

Researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, conducted a study on 59,000 women in collaboration with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Taste of Coffee - Types of Coffee Drinks and Varieties
Coffee is a great beverage prepared from the seeds of Coffea plant. Different types of coffee include espresso, cappuccino, Café latte, frappe, iced coffee.

"The correlation between intake of caffeine and fetal growth was established even among women who followed the official recommendation that they limit caffeine consumption to 200 milligrams a day (two cups of coffee)," researcher Verena Sengpiel said.

The medical term used in this connection is "small for gestational age" (SGA), which is associated with an elevated risk of morbidity and death.

The new results are consistent with previous international studies but are based on a considerably larger cohort.

Quiz on Early Pregnancy Symptoms
If you are trying to find out whether you have conceived this time around, you can ask other people, worry in silence or take this quiz on early signs and symptoms of pregnancy.

The participants were healthy and had uncomplicated pregnancies until delivery, while the results were adjusted for age, smoking, body mass index, nicotine consumption, alcohol use and other variables that affect fetal growth.

"We need to stress that our study did not examine whether caffeine is the specific mechanism substance by which responsible for the fetus is being at greater risk of low birth weight," Sengpiel said.

The World's Most Expensive Cup of Starbucks Coffee
Aromatic and tasty coffee is legendary in many homes, and often gives a great start to a day.

"Nor did we look at whether these babies actually had special health problems during the neonatal period. Additional research is needed before we can say for sure what our finding actually means for pregnant women and their babies," she added.

The other purpose of the study was to determine whether women who consumed caffeine during pregnancy were more likely to give birth prematurely. Such a correlation could not be established.

Coffee Linked to Low Birth Weight Babies
Coffee puts pregnant women at risk of damaging their unborn babies, says study. Caffeine is linked to low birth weight babies and prolonged pregnancies.

The research team is hoping to conduct more in-depth studies about the cause-effect relationship between caffeine use and SGA, as well as any correlation between SGA and neonatal morbidity and death.

The study is set to be published in the journal BMC Medicine.

Source-ANI