Impact of tea and coffee consumption during pregnancy on children's cognitive development

孕期饮用茶和咖啡对儿童认知发展的影响

Authors：Jiajun Ouyang, Penggui Wu, Lu Chen, Juan Tong, Shuangqin Yan, Jiong Li, Fangbiao Tao, Kun Huang

Source：Scientific Reports

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-91982-1

Abstract

Evidence on the association between maternal tea/coffee consumption and children's cognitive development is limited. This study included 1423 mother-child pairs from the Chinese National Birth Cohort (CNBC). Maternal tea/coffee consumption status was collected in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy. Cognitive development was assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III (BSID-III) in children aged averagely 36-months. We utilized group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM) to fit trajectories of maternal tea/coffee consumption across the three trimesters of pregnancy. Linear regression models were used to analyze the association between maternal tea/coffee consumption and children's cognitive development scores. Positive associations between maternal tea consumption during pregnancy and children's cognitive development were observed. Children of mothers who belonged to a continuous tea drinking trajectory throughout pregnancy had higher cognition, fine motor, and gross motor scores than those whose mothers belonged to a trajectory of tea-drinking in the 1st trimester of pregnancy, only. Comparison of tea-drinkers (yes/no) in each trimester separately indicated that tea-drinking in the second and third trimesters were more strongly associated with the outcomes than tea-drinking in the 1st trimester. The second and third trimesters of pregnancy might be key periods regarding maternal tea consumption affecting children's cognitive development. No significant association were found between maternal coffee consumption during pregnancy and children's cognitive development. The GBTM modelling provides clues to truly reflect the status and trajectory of pregnant women's tea and coffee consumption across different trimesters as their lifestyles change dynamically throughout pregnancy, which provides new motivation to investigate the association between maternal life pattern with offspring's cognitive development.

Keywords: Caffeine; Children; Coffee; Cognitive development; Pregnancy; Tea.

摘要：

关于母亲喝茶/喝咖啡与儿童认知发展之间关系的证据有限。这项研究包括来自中国国家出生队列(美国消费者新闻与商业频道)的1423对母子。在怀孕的第一、第二和第三个三个月收集母亲的茶/咖啡消费状况。使用贝利婴幼儿发展量表III (BSID-III)对平均年龄为36个月的儿童进行认知发展评估。我们利用基于群体的轨迹模型(GBTM)来拟合怀孕三个月的母亲茶/咖啡消费轨迹。线性回归模型用于分析母亲喝茶/喝咖啡与儿童认知发展得分之间的关系。据观察，母亲在怀孕期间喝茶与孩子的认知发展呈正相关。母亲在整个怀孕期间属于连续饮茶轨迹的孩子比母亲在怀孕前三个月属于饮茶轨迹的孩子有更高的认知、精细运动和粗大运动得分。对每个孕期饮茶者(是/否)分别进行的比较表明，妊娠中期和晚期饮茶比妊娠早期饮茶与妊娠结局的关联更强。妊娠中期和晚期可能是母亲喝茶影响儿童认知发展的关键时期。没有发现母亲在怀孕期间喝咖啡和孩子的认知发展之间有明显的联系。GBTM模型为真实反映孕妇在不同孕期的茶和咖啡消费状况和轨迹提供了线索，因为她们的生活方式在整个孕期发生了动态变化，这为研究母亲生活模式与后代认知发展之间的关系提供了新的动力。

关键词: 咖啡因；儿童；咖啡；认知发展；怀孕；茶