A new University of Queensland-led study has found no strong links between drinking coffee during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental difficulties in children. Researchers advise expectant mothers to continue following medical guidelines on caffeine consumption, as the study used a novel ‘Mendelian randomization’ approach to isolate the effects of caffeine from other factors. This research provides reassurance for pregnant women who enjoy their daily cup of coffee.

Coffee Consumption and Fetal Brain Development
The research, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, involved an in-depth genetic analysis of data from tens of thousands of families in Norway. Scandinavians are known to be some of the biggest coffee consumers in the world, drinking at least 4 cups a day, with little stigma about consuming coffee during pregnancy.
Previous studies had raised concerns that caffeine could accumulate in the developing fetal brain and impact its development. However, this new study used a novel ‘Mendelian randomization’ approach, which allowed the researchers to isolate the effects of caffeine from other environmental factors like alcohol, cigarette smoke, and poor diet. This technique mimics a randomized controlled trial without subjecting pregnant mothers and their babies to any potential harm.
Separating Caffeine from Other Factors
The Mendelian randomization method uses genetic variants that predict coffee drinking behavior to separate out the effect of different factors during pregnancy. This allowed the researchers to look solely at the impact of caffeine on the pregnancy, without the confounding effects of other variables.
‘We used a method called Mendelian randomization, which uses genetic variants that predict coffee drinking behavior and can separate out the effect of different factors during pregnancy,’ explained Dr. Gunn-Helen Moen, the lead researcher. ‘It mimics a randomized controlled trial without subjecting pregnant mothers and their babies to any ill effects. The benefit of this method is the effects of caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes and diet can be separated in the data, so we can look solely at the impact of caffeine on the pregnancy.’
Reassurance for Pregnant Coffee Lovers
The study found no link between coffee consumption during pregnancy and children’s neurodevelopmental difficulties, such as social skills, motor skills, language, ADHD, and autism. This is a reassuring finding for pregnant women who enjoy their daily cup of coffee.
However, the researchers still emphasize the importance of following advice from healthcare providers to limit caffeine consumption during pregnancy, as caffeine may influence other pregnancy outcomes. The team is now looking to apply similar analyses to understand more about genetic and environmental causes of neurodiversity and the effect on brain development during pregnancy.