Ladies, limit your tea or coffee intake if you're expecting, as researchers have found that excess caffeine intake during pregnancy may impair baby's liver development and increase the risk of liver disease in adulthood. In a study on rats, it was found that pregnant rats, which were given caffeine, had offspring with lower birth weight, altered growth and stress hormone levels and impaired liver development. Published in the Journal of Endocrinology, the study indicates that consuming 2-3 cups of coffee a day may alter stress and growth hormone levels in a manner that can impair development of baby's liver.

"Our results indicate that prenatal caffeine causes an excess of stress hormone activity in the mother, which inhibits IGF-1 activity for liver development before birth. However, compensatory mechanisms do occur after birth to accelerate growth and restore normal liver function as IGF-1 activity increases and stress hormone signalling decreases," said study co-author Yinxian Wen from the Wuhan University in China.