A new review of several existing studies hints that small amounts of alcohol may slightly boost the risk of premature birth and low birth weight. However, scientist are still unable to provide conclusive evidence on the impact of drinking occasionally during pregnancy.
The new study titled ‘Low alcohol consumption and pregnancy and childhood outcomes: time to change guidelines indicating apparently ‘safe’ levels of alcohol during pregnancy?” appeared online Sept. 11 in the journal BMJ Open.

The researchers acknowledge that the studies so far have been sparse and, in some cases, flimsy.

According to the lead author Dr Mamluk in an interview with HealthDay,

Some evidence that even light alcohol consumption in pregnancy is associated with risk of delivering a small baby and, to some extent, also with the risk of premature delivery, although this was less clear.

How does alcohol affect the unborn baby?

“When a woman drinks alcohol during pregnancy, the alcohol in her blood quickly passes through the placenta and the umbilical cord to the baby,” Dr Paul Jarris explained.
Any amount of alcohol at any time during pregnancy can harm the baby’s developing brain and other organs. And every pregnancy is different, so no one can predict how alcohol will affect your baby

Jarris said it’s not clear “whether there is a safe level of alcohol after which problems occur, a threshold, or if any alcohol, even very small amounts, can cause harm to some infants that might be subtle and hard to detect.”


Source:http://www.healthx24.com/drink-during-pregnancy/

Pregnant women who drank appeared to be 8 percent more likely to have a low birth weight baby. There was also evidence that these women were 10 percent more likely to have a premature baby, though this link was less clear. The researchers said it’s also possible that there’s no link between a low level of drinking and premature birth.The new findings are based on an analysis of seven and nine studies, respectively, from the original 26 studies.
The review with seven studies included trials with as few as 500 women up to almost 9,000 women. The review with nine studies had trials with as few as 500 and as many as 36,000 women.

The researchers acknowledged that the findings aren’t definitive, in part due to limitations in the studies they examined. For example, one study didn’t adjust its figures so it wouldn’t be thrown off by factors such as high or low numbers of participants who smoked and were poor, but others did.

Clearly, more studies are needed to provide better evidence for pregnant women.

Nevertheless, should pregnant women forgo drinking alcohol in the light of current evidence?



http://www.healthx24.com/drink-during-pregnancy/