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New research shows that caffeine consumed during pregnancy can alter important pathways in the brain that could lead to behavioral problems later in life. Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) analyzed thousands of brain scans of nine- and ten-year-old children and revealed changes in brain structure in children exposed to caffeine in utero.
“These are kind of small effects and they don’t cause horrible psychiatric disturbances, but they do cause minimal but noticeable behavior problems which should lead us to consider the long term effects of caffeine consumption during pregnancy.” said John Foxe, Ph.D., director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, and principal investigator of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development or ABCD Study at the University of Rochester. “I guess the result of this study will be a recommendation that all caffeine during pregnancy is probably not such a good idea.”
Elevated behavior problems, attention difficulties, and hyperactivity are all symptoms researchers observed in these children. “What makes this unique is that we have a biological pathway that looks different when you consume caffeine during pregnancy,” said Zachary Christensen, a physician / PhD candidate for the medical science training program. and first author of the article published in the journal Neuropharmacology. “Previous studies have shown that children perform differently on IQ tests, or have different psychopathology, but this could also be related to demographics, so it’s hard to analyze this until you have something like a biomarker. This gives us a starting point for future research to try to find out exactly when the change occurs in the brain. “
Investigators analyzed brain scans from more than 9,000 participants aged 9 and 10 in the ABCD study. They found clear changes in the way traces of white matter – which form connections between brain regions – were organized in children whose mothers reported consuming caffeine during pregnancy.
URMC is one of 21 sites nationwide collecting data for the ABCD study, the largest long-term study on brain development and children’s health. The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Ed Freedman, Ph.D., is the principal investigator of the ABCD study in Rochester and co-author of the study.
“It’s important to stress that this is a retrospective study,” Foxe said. “We rely on mothers to remember the amount of caffeine they ingested during their pregnancy.”
Previous studies have shown that caffeine can have a negative effect on pregnancy. It is also known that a fetus does not have the enzyme necessary to break down caffeine when it crosses the placenta. This new study reveals that caffeine may also have a lasting impact on neurological development.
The researchers stress that it is unclear whether the impact of caffeine on the fetal brain varies from trimester to trimester, 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 per day,” Christensen said. “In the long term, we hope to develop better advice for mothers, but in the meantime they should ask their doctor if any concerns arise.
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Material provided by University of Rochester Medical Center. Note: Content can be changed for style and length.
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