03/11/2022
n two prospectively followed cohorts, with some 2,400 children in total, children of women with the highest intake averaged 1.5 to 2.2 cm shorter (0.6-0.9 inches) at ages 7 to 8, reported Jessica L. Gleason, PhD, MPH, of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues.
Gleason and colleagues cautioned against jumping to the conclusion that moms-to-be should cut out the morning coffee. "The clinical implication of this height difference is unclear and warrants future investigation," they wrote, and the study did not corroborate earlier suggestions that fetal exposure to caffeine increases risk of subsequent obesity.