A child born to a woman who consumes an appropriate amount of coffee during pregnancy may have a lower risk of developing atopy, research showed Sunday.
According to a study led by professor Kim Yu-jun of Ewha Womans University’s Department of Environmental Medicine and published in the journal Healthcare Informatics Research, babies born to women who drank coffee, but less than one cup per day, had an 11 percent lower risk of atopy than those born to women who did not drink coffee at all.
The research team tracked 3,252 pairs of pregnant women and their children recruited between 2015 and 2019, dividing them into three groups: women who did not drink coffee (1,809), women who drank less than one cup per day (1,225) and those who drank one cup or more per day (188), to assess the impact on the development of atopy.
Babies born to women who drank one cup or more per day were 9 percent less likely to develop atopy than those whose mothers did not drink coffee, though the association was not statistically significant.
Atopy is linked with a group of allergic reactions. The researchers suggested that bioactive compounds in coffee may influence immune system development. Antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties in coffee may affect fetal immune development, they said.
“This is the first birth cohort analysis in South Korea to suggest that moderate amount of coffee consumption during pregnancy may be associated with a reduced risk of atopy in early childhood,” the team said. “However, further research is needed to establish a causal relationship.”
shinjh@heraldcorp.com
