Even a relatively small amount of daily caffeine intake by pregnant women – about two cups of coffee a day – can increase the chance of having a child who will be smaller in childhood (up to eight years old) compared to the height of children their age. A new American scientific study shows that mothers completely avoided caffeine during pregnancy.

Researchers led by epidemiologist Chesika Gleason of the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, who published the corresponding publication in the American medical journal JAMA Network Open, analyzed data on approximately 2,400 children aged four to eight years. They calculated that even below 200 milligrams per day of caffeine consumption results in a height difference of about two centimeters, which is comparable to the height of children whose mothers smoked regularly during pregnancy.

As they pointed out, caffeine is metabolized within three hours in pregnant women mainly to paraxanthine during the first trimester of pregnancy. Both caffeine and its metabolite paraxanthine can cross the placenta and enter the fetus.

On the other hand, the study did not find any significant correlation between coffee consumption by pregnant women and the birth of an overweight or obese child. Future research will investigate whether caffeine during pregnancy affects the growth of the child after childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

In addition to coffee, caffeine may be present in smaller amounts in other foods, such as chocolate and some drinks.

RES-EMI