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Pregnant women might not have to give up coffee completely!

According to a new study, drinking coffee during pregnancy did not harm the children's IQs (intelligence quotient) at aged four and seven. For this study, the researchers recruited 2,197 pregnant women and took blood samples at two points as a part of the 25-year long Collaborative Perinatal Project. The blood samples were used to measure the level of a compound known as paraxanthine, which is produced when the body consumes caffeine.

The researchers looked at paraxanthine levels in relation to the children's IQs at the ages of four and seven and found no link between higher coffee consumption and lower IQs.

"Taken as a whole, we consider our results to be reassuring for pregnant women who consume moderate amounts of caffeine, or the equivalent to one or two cups of coffee per day," co-author of the study, Sarah Keim, who is an assistant professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, concluded in a statement.

The team noted that the data was collected from 1959 to 1974 when drinking coffee during pregnancy was a pretty common practice.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists previously stated that moderate caffeine consumption (less than 200 milligrams per day) during pregnancy is considered to be safe.

The study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.