Could a little caffeine during pregnancy make the baby short?
A team of international researchers threw the cat among the pigeons when they suggested that even a small amount of caffeine while pregnant might be linked to a woman’s child being short.
They followed up children of women who had low levels of caffeine and paraxanthine – a metabolite of caffeine – during their pregnancy at ages four to eight years, and said these children were shorter than the children of women who had no caffeine during their pregnancy.
Although the clinical implications were unclear for relatively small observed differences, the team said the findings suggested that small amounts of daily maternal caffeine consumption were associated with shorter stature in their offspring that persisted into childhood.
But Dr Gavin Pereira, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Curtin University, said there was not enough evidence that caffeine during pregnancy hampered the subsequent growth.
The researchers’ conclusion that “increasing levels” of caffeine and paraxanthine, even in low amounts, was associated with shorter stature in early childhood was incorrect.
“All that can be concluded from this study is that the children born to women who consumed higher levels of caffeine were shorter than the children born to women who consumed relatively lower levels of caffeine,” Dr Pereira said.
“The correlation observed in this study can be explained by the existence of a common cause of both caffeine consumption and growth restriction – poverty, stress and dietary factors.”