Two cups of coffee a day while pregnant ‘raise baby’s leukaemia risk’
Pregnant women who drink just two cups of coffee a day could be putting their babies at risk of leukaemia. A major study has found that their babies are up to 60 per cent more likely to develop the disease during childhood. Academics say the Government should issue warnings to pregnant women to limit their coffee intake just as they are told to cut back on alcohol and stop smoking. They think caffeine may change the DNA in the foetus’s cells making them more susceptible to the development of tumours.
Researchers who looked at more than 20 existing studies found that babies of women who drank coffee during pregnancy were 20 per cent more at risk of developing leukaemia. But if they drank more than two cups a day the risk rose to 60 per cent.
Source: Daily Mail
Published: 18 Aug 2014
Category: Features, Health alert
