Results from a new study blow away any notion that a glass of wine here and there during pregnancy causes any harm.
Instead, the research advises women to completely abstain from alcohol during pregnancy, saying that even light alcohol consumption puts a baby at risk of fetal alcohol syndrome especially during the first trimester, MedPage reports.
Haruna Sawada Feldman, PhD, MPH, of the University of California San Diego in La Jolla, performed the study which reviewed data from 992 women participating in a research program from 1978 to 2005, interviewing those that had reported exposure to alcohol during pregnancy and another group that had zero alcohol exposure.
Feldman found that for women who had consumed one or more servings of alcohol a day during the first trimester had a higher risk that their newborns had microcephaly — a neurodevelopmental disorder that leads to a significantly smaller head circumference — along with lower birth weight and length.
Higher risk for a smooth area above the lip, a symptom of FAS was also present, even into the second trimester.
Feldman stated in the report that “there is no safe threshold for alcohol consumption during pregnancy with respect to selected alcohol-related physical features.”
“Women who are of childbearing age and who are contemplating or at risk for becoming pregnant should be encouraged to avoid drinking, and women who are pregnant should abstain from alcohol throughout the prenancy,” Feldman added.