If you’re thinking just one beer or just a single glass of wine during pregnancy can’t hurt, think again. A new study reveals that every drop counts.
A study of nearly a thousand women has revealed that even a single drink a day – especially during the first trimester – can lead to some symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome.
The study, led by Haruna Feldman, PhD, MPH, of the University of California San Diego, concluded, “Women should continue to be advised to abstain from alcohol consumption from conception throughout pregnancy.”
Their research is based on information from the California Teratogen Information Service and Clinical Research Program, which ran from 1978 to 2005.
Women enrolled in the program underwent counseling and then reported whether they had been exposed to any of 70 different substances, including alcohol.
Pregnant women who both were and were not exposed to the substances were asked to participate in the study, which ultimately included 992 women.
The researchers looked at whether pregnant women had drinks in the first six weeks of their pregnancy, in the second half of the first trimester (6-12 weeks), or in the second or third trimesters.
They also considered the amount of alcohol women drank: how many drinks they had per day, how many binge episodes they had and the maximum number of drinks they had in a day.
After their children were born, the infants were inspected for 132 different possible abnormalities.
Among the abnormalities researchers looked for were characteristics of fetal alcohol syndrome, such as a smooth philtrum, a thin upper lip and a microcephaly, where the head is smaller due to an improperly developed brain.
They also looked for lower than average birth weights and birth lengths.
All five characteristics occurred at a higher rate in women who drank one or more drinks a day during the first trimester, especially during the second half of the first trimester.
About a quarter of the infants of these women showed the smooth upper lip and/or a small upper lip, a facial feature associated specifically with fetal alcohol syndrome.
Among those who drank during the first trimester, there was also a 12 percent higher risk of a smaller head size, 16 percent higher risk of lower birth weight, and an 18 percent higher risk of smaller birth length.
The researchers also found an association between drinking during the second trimester and both a smooth upper lip and reduced birth weight and length.
Only birth length appeared associated with alcohol intake during the third trimester. The researchers discovered that birth length shortened according to how much the women drank during pregnancy.
The study appears in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. The authors did not disclose any financial conflicts of interest.
Over 3 percent (1 out of 33) babies born in the United States has some kind of birth defect. Many are genetic and could not have been prevented, as the cause of up to two thirds of all birth defects are unknown. However, many common birth defects are also preventable. The focus of prenatal care is to ensure that mother and baby are both healthy during pregnancy, as well as preventing and treating any looming birth defects and health problems.
The most common preventable birth defects are cardiac (1 out of every 100-200) which can range from common defects of the inner walls of the heart to very severe arterial problems that require emergency surgery or transplants. Also common are neural tube defects (1 out of every 1000) which commonly result in spina bifida (a defect of the spinal cord) and anencephaly (incomplete formation of the brain. These are less common but serious problems that can result in significant sickness and death for the child. While rare, genetic defects in utero can result in several different genetic disorders, including Down’s syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, Turner’s syndrome, and many others.