Caffeine consumed during pregnancy can change important brain pathways that could lead to behavioral problems later in life, according to new research.
Researchers analyzed thousands of brain scans of nine and 10-year-olds, and revealed changes in the brain structure of children exposed to caffeine in utero.
“I suppose the outcome of this study will be a recommendation that any caffeine during pregnancy is probably not such a good idea.”
“These are sort of small effects and it’s not causing horrendous psychiatric conditions, but it is causing minimal but noticeable behavioral issues that should make us consider long term effects of caffeine intake during pregnancy,” says John Foxe, director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, and principal investigator of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development or ABCD Study at the University of Rochester.
Glaser
Luis Glaser, PhD, a beloved mentor and former head of the then-Department of Biological Chemistry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died Dec. 23, 2020, in Miami after a long illness. He was 88.
Also a director of the university’s Division of Biology & Biomedical Sciences, Glaser spent the latter years of his career, from 1986 to 2005, as executive vice president and provost at the University of Miami.
At Washington University, where he earned his PhD in biochemistry, Glaser studied in the laboratory of Nobel laureates Carl and Gerty Cori. He joined the faculty as an instructor in 1956 and rose to head of the biological chemistry department, precursor to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics; he held that position from 1975 to 1986. He also became director of the Division of Biology & Biomedical Sciences, in 1980. He retired from Washington University in 1986 but remained affiliated with the School of Medicine as an adjunct profess