Pregnant women celebrate! A new study confirms it is safe to drink coffee during pregnancy

Scientists have confirmed the safety of coffee consumption among pregnant women. Medical Daily reports that according to a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, moderate amount of caffeine taken during pregnancy will not harm a child's development, intelligence, and behavior.

Some prior studies have shown a relationship between "in utero caffeine exposure and offspring cognition or behavior during childhood." Some expectant mothers are concerned because caffeine may enter the placenta and cause an increase in maternal catecholamine levels. Catecholamine are hormones created by the adrenal glands and are one of the biomarkers for stress, which may cause preterm birth.

According to Livescience, researchers studied the amount of paraxanthine—a compound which caffeine is broken down into once consumed—in blood samples from 2,197 pregnant women twice during their pregnancy. The samples were collected for the Collaborative Perinatal Project, a 25-year study that analyzed the relationship between pregnancy and perinatal fctors and children's health. According to the researchers, samples were collected from 1959 to 1974, during which the consumption of coffee was common among pregnant women.

Researchers compared paraxanthine levels during the 20th and 26th week of gestation to the child's intelligence quotient (IQ) and behavioral problems when they were 4 and 7 years old. The team did not find any consistent patterns between the consumption of caffeine during pregnancy to the children's IQ and behavior at ages 4 and 7. However, the researchers noted that 11% of the children in the study were considered obese at 4 years old and 7% were considered obese at 7 years old. Nonetheless, the researchers did not find a direct link between caffeine intake during pregnancy and child obesity.

Business Standard reports that this research is one of the first studies to zero in on how in utero caffeine exposure affects a child's future intelligence and behavior later in childhood.

"Taken as a whole, we consider our results to be reassuring for pregnant women who consume moderate amounts of caffeine or the equivalent to 1 or 2 cups of coffee per day," Sara A. Keim, co-author and principal investigator in the Center for Biobehavioral Health at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's, explained, as per EurekAlert.

Mark A. Klebanoff, MD, principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's and faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, concluded, "We did not find evidence of an adverse association of maternal pregnancy caffeine consumption with child cognition or behavior at 4 or 7 years of age."