A Randomized Intervention Study of the Effects of Discontinuing Coffee Intake on Growth and Morbidity of Iron-Deficient Guatemalan Toddlers

Coffee intake has been associated with several adverse nutritional consequences in both animal models and human studies. Accordingly in North America coffee is not thought to be an appropriate beverage for children. In contrast coffee is widely consumed among children in Guatemala and is even one of the first liquids given to infants beginning as early as 2 months of age. A study investigated whether coffee has an adverse effect upon child growth or morbidity. 160 children of age 12-24 months who had received coffee for 2 or more months and had at least one indicator of iron deficiency were stratified by initial hemoglobin and randomly assigned to the control or intervention group for 5 months. Children in the control group continued to receive coffee while children in the intervention group were instead given a substitute consisting of sugar and coloring. Anemic children were provided iron supplements for 2-3 months. Hematological and anthropometric measurements were made at baseline and after the intervention while dietary and morbidity data were collected every 2 weeks. 139 children completed the intervention and compliance was high. No significant difference was found between the control and intervention groups in food intake before or after the intervention. Overall the intervention had no effect upon weight or length gain. However a modest increase in growth was associated with the discontinuation of coffee consumption by toddlers with initial intakes of more than 100 ml/day.