Coffee Intake during Pregnancy and Lactation in Rats: Maternal and Pup Hematological Parameters and Liver Iron, Zinc and Copper Concentration

Abstract

To study the effects of maternal coffee intake on trace element status of the fetus and newborn, Sprague-Dawley female rats were fed a control purified diet and were provided ad libitum a freeze-dried coffee solution (1.5% wt/vol) (C) or distilled water (W) as their sole source of liquids from d 0 of gestation. On d 21 of gestation, a subsample of dams from each group was killed and litters were removed for examination. At birth, a subsample of litters from each group was cross-fostered to differentiate between pre- and postnatal exposure to coffee (water prenatally, coffee postnatally = WC; coffee prenatally, water postnatally = CW). Food and fluid intake during gestation, maternal weight gain and litter size were similar in the coffee and control groups, but pup birth weight was lower in the coffee group than in the control group (5.82 vs. 6.45 g, P less than 0.05). Compared with that of control pups, hemoglobin (Hb) was significantly lower in C and WC pups, but not in CW pups, at 3 and 14 d of age. Hematological values were not significantly different between C and W dams or C and W fetuses. Livers of C and WC pups had higher concentrations and total content of Fe, Zn and Cu at 3 d of age compared with controls, but the differences were reduced by 14 d of age. The results suggest that maternal coffee intake may impair mobilization of trace elements from liver reserves in early life and that this may result in reduced hemoglobin synthesis.

Mineral metabolism and bone strength of rats fed coffee and decaffeinated coffee

“…Cohen and Booth (1975) observed ingestion of coffee increased gastric acid secretion; this could result in more iron being in the ferrous state and hence could promote absorption. Similarly Muñoz et al (1986) observed 3-day-old pups of rats given coffee throughout gestation and lactation had elevated concentrations of iron in their livers. However, these changes probably reflect the smaller size of rats fed coffee in study 1 because the dietary treatments did not affect the total amount of iron in the livers or kidneys of rats.…”

“…Rather we hypothesize that ingestion of coffee disturbed iron metabolism during hematopoesis or during iron transport and mobilization perhaps by interfering with copper utilization. Similarly Muñoz et al (1986) recently suggested that maternal coffee intake impaired mobilization of minerals from the liver reserves of pups and thus interfered with hematopoesis.…”

Interaction between Caffeine and Zinc on Brain in Newborn Rats

“…Coffee intake during pregnancy and lacta tion had no effect on the zinc content of the pup's liver at day 14 [26]. Because coffee contains other metabolically active sub stances in considerable amounts [27,28], it is possible that the pure caffeine added to the maternal diet in this study could have differ ent effects from the coffee.…”