Alcohol is a teratogen that should be
avoided during pregnancy. Mothers who drink during pregnancy put their child to
risk for developing fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). FAS can result in growth
problems as well as mental and other physical congenital defects. Alcohol is a
toxin that affects the developing central nervous system of the fetus. Children
with fetal alcohol syndrome often show slow physical growth, delayed mental
development that can be mild to serve, facial abnormalities, heart defeats, and
abnormalities of the skeleton. These children usually have mental retardation
and frequently have behavior problems and hyperactivity.
The behavioral and cognitive impairments associated with
FAS reflect underlying structural or functional changes in the brain. Techniques
for viewing the living brain, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), reveal
reduced overall brain size in persons with FAS and disproportionate reductions
in the size of specific brain structures.
One such area is the deep-brain structure called the basal
ganglia. Damage to the basal ganglia impairs spatial memory and set shifting in
animals and various cognitive processes in humans. Another common finding is
reduced size of the cerebellum, a structure involved in balance, gait,
coordination, and cognition. Finally, prenatal alcohol exposure is the major
cause of impaired development or complete absence of the corpus callosum, a
band of nerve fibers that forms the major communication link between the right
and left halves of the brain. Approximately 7 percent of children with FAS may
lack a corpus callosum, an incidence rate 20 times higher than that in the
general population.
Pregnant women may be putting their unborn
babies at risk thanks to conflicting advice on how much alcohol it's safe to
drink while expecting. One in 100 babies are born in Britain each year
brain-damaged with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), ITV documentary
Exposure: When Pregnant Women Drink reveals this week - and many mothers may be
unwittingly putting their babies at risk because they've been led to believe
it's okay to drink one or two units a week. In fact, some mothers, including
Sam whose 11-year-old son Stanley has FASD, believed that some alcoholic
drinks, such as Guinness, were even good for the baby.
Damage: Stanley was born with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum
Disorder and struggles to communicate 'I was told he had frontal lobe brain
damage, cognitively he would be behind and his social skills would be poor. His
difficulties to communicate can make him angry.'
The Government's current guidelines advise that
those who are pregnant, or trying to get pregnant, should avoid alcohol
altogether – but then adds, 'If women do choose to drink, to minimise the risk
to the baby, we recommend they should not drink more than one to two units once
or twice a week and they should not get drunk.' The Royal College of
Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has taken a similar view, stating: 'There is
no proven safe amount of alcohol that you can drink during pregnancy. It is
also often difficult to work out just how much you are drinking, especially if
you have a drink at home. 'The only way to be certain that your baby is
not harmed by alcohol is not to drink at all during pregnancy or while
breastfeeding.
What it's doing is it's stopping normal development, it's
interfering with the process, so you've got brain cells being killed off, you
get brain cells in the wrong place, you've got parts of the brain that just are
absent
Dr Raja Mukherjee
'It is recommended that you do not drink
alcohol during the first three months of pregnancy.
'Drinking small amounts of alcohol after this
time does not appear to be harmful for the unborn baby, but you should not:
drink more than one or two units, and then not more than once or twice per
week. Binge drink (which for a woman is when she has six units or more of
alcohol on any one occasion).' Meanwhile the National Institute for Health and
Care Excellence (NICE) recommend women abstain from alcohol completely during
the first three months of pregnancy because of the risks of miscarriage. Then
for the remainder of the pregnancy, they recommend drinking no more than one or
two units of alcohol once or twice a week. However in countries including the
USA, Canada, France and South Africa, pregnant women are told to avoid alcohol
completely for the entire time they are carrying a baby. Due to such
conflicting views, many British expectant mothers admitted on Exposure that they
don't know what to think. Some were given no information on alcohol
consumption, while others found the NHS guidelines confusing and contradictory.
One mother-to-be said on the show: My understanding is you shouldn't - but you
can drink a little if you want to.' Another admitted: 'The internet tells you
all sort of different things, I got confused.'
Sam, whose last name is not revealed, admits
she had an addiction to alcohol that made it hard for her to give it up when
she was pregnant. But she said she also wasn't warned enough about the dangers
to her baby as a result of her drinking habit.
She said: 'I used to go and have my scans and
then have a couple of pints of Guinness and a brandy. I thought Guinness was
good for the baby.
'I wasn't given any advice. I presumed I could
get drunk and it would just leave my system.
'I hadn't heard of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum
Disorder, I wasn't told. Had I known the facts I may have been shocked enough
to seek help.' Damage: Stanley was born with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum
Disorder and struggles to communicate 'I was told he had frontal lobe brain
damage, cognitively he would be behind and his social skills would be poor. His
difficulties to communicate can make him angry.' The Government's current
guidelines advise that those who are pregnant, or trying to get pregnant,
should avoid alcohol altogether – but then adds, 'If women do choose to drink,
to minimise the risk to the baby, we recommend they should not drink more than
one to two units once or twice a week and they should not get drunk.' The Royal
College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has taken a similar view, stating:
'There is no proven safe amount of alcohol that you can drink during pregnancy.
It is also often difficult to work out just how much you are drinking,
especially if you have a drink at home. 'The only way to be certain that
your baby is not harmed by alcohol is not to drink at all during pregnancy or
while breastfeeding.
'It is
recommended that you do not drink alcohol during the first three months of
pregnancy.
'Drinking small amounts of alcohol after this
time does not appear to be harmful for the unborn baby, but you should not:
drink more than one or two units, and then not more than once or twice per
week. Binge drink (which for a woman is when she has six units or more of
alcohol on any one occasion).' Meanwhile the National Institute for Health and
Care Excellence (NICE) recommend women abstain from alcohol completely during
the first three months of pregnancy because of the risks of
miscarriage. Then for the remainder of the pregnancy, they recommend
drinking no more than one or two units of alcohol once or twice a week. However
in countries including the USA, Canada, France and South Africa, pregnant women
are told to avoid alcohol completely for the entire time they are carrying a
baby. Due to such conflicting views, many British expectant mothers admitted on
Exposure that they don't know what to think. Some were given no
information on alcohol consumption, while others found the NHS guidelines
confusing and contradictory. One mother-to-be said on the show: My
understanding is you shouldn't - but you can drink a little if you want to.
How Alcohol Affects the Baby's
Brain:
The most common effect is permanent brain damage which leads to learning
disabilities, behavior problems, memory deficits, attention deficit hyperactive
disorder, and/or mental retardation. This is called "static
encephalopathy" meaning brain damage that doesn't get any better and
doesn't get any worse. There is way to reverse the damage. More subtle damage
from occasional binge drinking can cause damage that is like buck shot -
scattered holes in the brain that affect whatever area that was developing at
the time, causing brain cells death, migration of cells to the wrong place, or
tangles in the neurons with inaccurate connections. 'Another
admitted: 'The internet tells you all sort of different things, I got confused.
References
Birth Defects and Brain
Development – body, last, cause. Retrieved from
www.humanillnesses.com
Fetal Alcohol Exposure
and the Brain. – Alcohol Alert No. 50. Retrieved from
pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/
Mother’s grief at
damaging son’s brain with pregnancy drinking. Retrieved from
www.dailymail.co.uk/…/Mother-s-grief-damaging-son-s-brain…
