Maternal caffeine consumption during pregnancy and offspring cord blood DNA methylation: an epigenome-wide association study meta-analysis

Schellhas, Laura; Monasso, Giulietta S.; Felix, Janine Frédérique; Jaddoe, Vincent W. V.; Huang, Peiyuan; Fernández-Barrés, Sílvia; Vrijheid, Martine; Pesce, Giancarlo; Annesi-Maesano, Isabella; Page, Christian M.; Brantsaeter, Anne Lise; Bekkhus, Mona; Håberg, Siri E.; London, Stephanie J.; Munafò, Marcus R.; Zuccolo, Luisa; Sharp, Gemma C.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2217/epi-2023-0263

Maternal caffeine consumption during pregnancy and offspring cord blood DNA methylation: an epigenome-wide association study meta-analysis

Citation

Schellhas L, Monasso GS, Felix JF, Jaddoe VW, Huang P, Fernández-Barrés S, et al. Maternal caffeine consumption during pregnancy and offspring cord blood DNA methylation: an epigenome-wide association study meta-analysis. Epigenomics. 2023 Nov;15(22):1179-93. DOI: 10.2217/epi-2023-0263

Abstract

Background: Prenatal caffeine exposure may influence offspring health via DNA methylation, but no large studies have tested this. Materials & methods: Epigenome-wide association studies and differentially methylated regions in cord blood (450k or EPIC Illumina arrays) were meta-analyzed across six European cohorts (n = 3725). Differential methylation related to self-reported caffeine intake (mg/day) from coffee, tea and cola was compared with assess whether caffeine is driving effects. Results: One CpG site (cg19370043, PRRX1) was associated with caffeine and another (cg14591243, STAG1) with cola intake. A total of 12-22 differentially methylated regions were detected with limited overlap across caffeinated beverages. Conclusion: We found little evidence to support an intrauterine effect of caffeine on offspring DNA methylation. Statistical power limitations may have impacted our findings.