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Why Would You Even Risk It?

It might not kill brain cells, but we know alcohol can damage them. So why, do women who choose to have a baby risk their baby's development by drinking, even moderately, while pregnant? What is your problem, women? How could something that affects your adult brain not have a negative impact on a brain that's just forming?

Don't you want to give your kid the best chance it has for developing properly? There's enough shit you can't avoid (air pollution, for example) that could make anyone ill, so why do you have to go and purposely introduce yet another toxin?

A study has been conducted that shows any drinking can affect the child's IQ, cause der, it affects brain development.

Previous studies have relied on observational evidence, but this is problematic. Observational studies often find that moderate drinking is beneficial compared to abstention, but this is because mothers who drink in moderation during pregnancy are typically well educated, have a good diet and are unlikely to smoke -- all factors which are linked to higher IQ in the child, and which mask any negative effect that exposure to alcohol may have.

This study, on the other hand, looked at moderate (rather than high) alcohol intake in over 4,000 women and used a novel technique known as Mendelian randomization, which is a scientifically robust way of investigating the links between exposures and later diseases, using genetic variants which modify exposure levels and which are not influenced by lifestyle or other factors.

The mothers' alcohol intake was based on a questionnaire completed when they were 18 weeks' pregnant. It included questions on the average amount and frequency of alcohol consumption before the current pregnancy, during the first trimester, and in the previous two weeks or at the time when they first felt the baby move. One drink was specified as one unit of alcohol.

Around 32 weeks of gestation the mother completed another questionnaire in which she was asked about her average weekday and weekend alcohol consumption, from which weekly intake was derived.

...

Speaking about the findings, the report's main author, Dr Sarah Lewis, said: 'Our results suggest that even at levels of alcohol consumption which are normally considered to be harmless, we can detect differences in childhood IQ, which are dependent on the ability of the fetus to clear this alcohol. This is evidence that even at these moderate levels, alcohol is influencing fetal brain development.'

I bet you're visiting the doctor all the time and getting ultrasounds and tests done to make sure the baby's got the right number of fingers and toes and such, so it would appear as if you cared about its development.

Yeah, i know. You miss drinking. Well, i miss roast duck, but i've managed to abstain for the last 11 years without the added incentive of a human growing in my belly.

By min | November 15, 2012, 11:04 AM | Science