Pour More

Interesting Study on Drinking and Pregnancy

Friday, October 31st, 2008 | Wine News | 1 Comment

I think that pretty much everyone knows that it is recommended (at least here in the U.S.) that pregnant women abstain from alcohol during the pregnancy. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), alcohol abuse can have many negative effects on your baby including:

• Miscarriage
• Fetal alcohol syndrome, the most common cause of mental retardation in babies
• Physical defects
• Low birth weight
• Hyperactivity
• Decreased attention span

So I thought it was interesting to read about a study performed by the University College London that claims boys borns to mothers who drank lightly “are better behaved and score more highly in tests at the age of three than the sons of women who abstained.” The article does not define what constitutes a “light drinker.”

Here’s an excerpt:

Boys born to mothers who drank lightly were 40% less likely to have conduct problems and 30% less likely to be hyperactive, even when the differences between social and economic circumstances were taken into account. They also scored more highly in vocabulary tests and were better able to identify shapes, colours, letters and numbers.

The research has the authority of a large study - it involved 12,495 children - but is likely to further fuel the controversy over alcohol in pregnancy.

I’ve read other studies that claim a drink or two per week (mostly likely with a meal) won’t harm an unborn child, but of course there are plenty of other studies that show it is best to not drink at all. Interesting stuff, though.