Risk of Cleft Lip Increases with Coffee Consumption During Pregnancy

According to a recent study out of Norway, women who consume coffee early on in their pregnancy are at a higher risk of giving birth to a baby with cleft lip, a birth defect where there is a narrow opening or gap in the skin of the upper lip that extends all the way to the base of the nose. Dr. Allen J. Wilcox of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/National Institutes of Health in North Carolina worked with colleagues out of Norway, a country which has a rather high prevalence of cleft lip and cleft palate. Wilcox and his team chose to use Norwegian women for their study, since people from Norway tend to drink large amounts of coffee. Researchers looked at 573 women who had given birth to a baby with cleft lip with or without cleft palate, or cleft palate alone. Those women were then compared to 763 women who gave birth to a child with no orofacial clefts, which include cleft lip and cleft palate. Wilcox and his colleagues found that pregnant women who drank up to three cups of coffee each day during the first trimester were 1.39 times more likely to give birth to a baby with cleft lip with or without cleft palate. Pregnant women who drank three or more cups of coffee daily had a 1.59 times higher risk than non-coffee drinkers.

With the study findings, which were published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, Wilcox noted that having an immediate relative with cleft lip and/or cleft palate increases that person’s risk of developing an orofacial cleft by 50 times. Wilcox and his research team found no association between pregnant women's consumption of coffee and cleft palate alone. However, they did find that pregnant women who drank tea reduced their risk of having a child with this type of birth defect, which suggests that it is not the caffeine in coffee that causes an increased risk of orofacial clefts. Treatment for this birth defect involves a series of surgeries, with the first usually taking place during the baby’s first year to begin closing the lip and/or palate. In most cases, the cause of cleft lip and cleft palate are unknown and cannot be prevented, however, some drugs are believed to cause cleft lip and cleft palate. If your child has suffered an injury during birth that may have been preventable, please call or e-mail us today. Our experienced attorneys have helped clients with Manhattan birth injury, Bronx birth injury, Brooklyn birth injury, Queens birth injury, Nassau birth injury and Suffolk birth injury cases. Call or send an instant inquiry today and we will evaluate your case for FREE.

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