Caffeine consumed during pregnancy can change important brain pathways that could lead to behaviour problems later in life, new research has concluded.
The study analysed thousands of brain scans from nine and ten-year-olds, and revealed changes in the brain structure in children who were exposed to caffeine in utero.
“These are sort of small effects and it’s not causing horrendous psychiatric conditions, but it is causing minimal but noticeable behavioural issues that should make us consider long-term effects of caffeine intake during pregnancy,” says Professor John Foxe, director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Centre (URMC).
“I suppose the outcome of this study will be a recommendation that any caffeine during pregnancy is probably not such a good idea.”
Elevated behaviour issues, attention difficulties and hyperactivity are all symptoms that researchers observed in these children.
“What makes this unique is that we have a biological pathway that looks different when you consume caffeine through pregnancy,” continues Zachary Christensen, first author on the research paper published in the journal Neuropharmacology.
“Previous studies have shown that children perform differently on IQ tests, or they have different psychopathology, but that could also be related to demographics, so it’s hard to parse that out until you have something like a biomarker.
“This gives us a place to start future research to try to learn exactly when the change is occurring in the brain.”
Investigators analysed brain scans of more than 9,000 nine and ten-year-old participants in the ABCD study.
They found clear changes in how the white matter tracks – which form connections between brain regions – were organised in children whose mothers reported they consumed caffeine during pregnancy.
URMC is one of 21-sites across the United States collecting data for the ABCD study, the largest long-term study of brain development and child health.
“It is important to point out this is a retrospective study,” says Professor Foxe.
“We are relying on mothers to remember how much caffeine they took in while they were pregnant.”
Previous studies have found caffeine can have a negative effect on pregnancy. It is also known that a foetus does not have the enzyme necessary to breakdown caffeine when it crosses the placenta.
This new study reveals that caffeine could also leave a lasting impact on neurodevelopment.
The researchers point out that it is unclear if the impact of the caffeine on the foetal brain varies from one trimester to the next, or when during gestation these structural changes occur.
“Current clinical guidelines already suggest limiting caffeine intake during pregnancy – no more than two normal cups of coffee a day,” Christensen adds.
“In the long term, we hope to develop better guidance for mothers, but in the meantime, they should ask their doctor as concerns arise.”
