Study says drinking coffee during pregnancy increases the risk of fetal leukemia

Caffeine can alter the structure of DNA in fetal cells and has a risk of causing leukemia, and women who drink two cups of coffee a day during pregnancy have a 60 per cent higher risk of leukemia, the Daily Mail reported. The discovery quickly attracted people's attention, and many American citizens believed that the government should control the amount of coffee consumed by pregnant women.

It is reported that after conducting more than 20 studies, the researchers found that women who drank coffee during pregnancy were 20 percent more likely to have leukemia than those who did not drink coffee, and if they drank more than two cups of coffee, the probability would reach 60%. However, if found in time, chemotherapy can be used, and the survival rate is as high as 80%.

Dennis Henshaw, an emeritus professor at the University of Bristol and an expert in the field, said in an interview: "I don't think women should give up drinking coffee, but they should drink as little as possible during pregnancy. The NHS recommends that pregnant women limit their daily caffeine intake to 200 milligrams, the equivalent of one and a half-filtered coffee or two cups of instant coffee. "