A new study from South Korea found that pregnant women who drank small amounts of coffee were less likely to have children who developed certain skin and food allergies by age 3.
The study, published in January in Healthcare Informatics Research, tracked more than 3,200 Korean mother-child pairs. It found that children born to mothers who drank less than one serving of coffee a day during pregnancy had a modestly lower risk of eczema — the itchy skin condition formally known as atopic dermatitis — by age 3, compared to children whose mothers reported drinking no coffee.
The study found no meaningful link between maternal coffee drinking and childhood asthma or hay fever.
A food allergy finding was even stronger. Children of mothers who drank one or more servings of coffee a day had a 39% lower risk of food allergy by 36 months. Children whose mothers were in the lighter-intake group (one cup or less) showed a smaller, borderline reduction compared to those born to mothers who drank no coffee at all.
Because the study was observational — meaning it tracked people’s habits rather than testing an intervention — the results show a correlation, not proof that coffee caused the difference.
“Our findings suggest an inverse association between prenatal coffee consumption and childhood allergic diseases, with statistically significant risk reductions observed for atopic dermatitis and food allergy by 36 months of age,” the authors wrote. “Further in-depth studies are needed to elucidate the contributions of specific coffee constituents during the prenatal period.”
The study drew on data from the Korean Children’s Environmental Health Study, a nationwide research project that enrolled pregnant women between 2015 and 2019. Participants filled out detailed dietary questionnaires during pregnancy, and their children’s allergy outcomes were tracked through doctor and hospital records reported by caregivers at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months.
Coffee intake among the mothers was low overall. About 44% reported drinking any coffee during pregnancy, and among those who did, nearly 87% averaged less than one serving per day. Average caffeine intake across the group was just 17 milligrams per day, a fraction of the 200-milligram daily limit that major health authorities, including the European Food Safety Authority, recommend for pregnant women.
The Korean results fit into a broader picture that shows mixed results. A 2025 Portuguese birth cohort study in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology found that mothers who consumed up to about 93 milligrams of caffeine daily had children with lower odds of developing asthma by age 10. But a 2021 Japanese study pointed the other way, linking higher maternal caffeine intake to greater food allergy risk in young children — though caffeine consumption in that cohort was considerably higher, with a median intake above 200 milligrams per day.
The authors of the newest study reported no conflicts of interest. The research was conducted as part of lead author Sharmin Afroz’s doctoral dissertation at Ewha Womans University, and was funded by South Korea’s National Institute of Environmental Research.
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