Fetal Alcohol Syndrome News and Research

Latest Fetal Alcohol Syndrome News and Research

Fetal alcohol syndrome testing expands

Improved technology, partnerships and collaboration across two provinces have allowed Queen's University scientists to dramatically expand the use of eye-movement tests that help identify and assess children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

20 Mar 2009

Combined measures of maternal drinking can predict resulting problems in children

While many people are aware that drinking during pregnancy can lead to a range of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs), including the serious Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), linkages between maternal-drinking measures and child outcomes have been inconsistent.

2 Feb 2009

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy damages offspring's white matter - brain's connective network

One part of the prenatal brain that may be particularly sensitive to alcohol's effects is white matter, nerve fibers through which information is exchanged between different areas of the central nervous system.

22 Dec 2008

Alcohol consumption can cause too much cell death, fetal abnormalities

The initial signs of fetal alcohol syndrome are slight but classic: facial malformations such as a flat and high upper lip, small eye openings and a short nose.

25 Aug 2008

Researchers block damage to fetal brain following maternal alcohol consumption

In a study on fetal alcohol syndrome, researchers were able to prevent the damage that alcohol causes to cells in a key area of the fetal brain by blocking acid sensitive potassium channels and preventing the acidic environment that alcohol produces. The cerebellum, the portion of the brain that is responsible for balance and muscle coordination, is particularly vulnerable to injury from alcohol during development.

11 Aug 2008

Binge drinking in pregnancy increases risk of oral clefts in offspring

A new study by researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, shows that pregnant women who binge drink early in their pregnancy increase the likelihood that their babies will be born with oral clefts.

31 Jul 2008

Even though they know better, women still drink alcohol while pregnant

A study by a consultant paediatrician at Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney has found that as many as one third of Australian women admit to drinking alcohol when pregnant, even though they know it could affect their unborn child.

13 May 2008

Some moms quit cigarettes, marijuana, alcohol during pregnancy, but dads don't

Despite public health campaigns, a surprising number of women continue to use substances such as tobacco, marijuana and alcohol during pregnancy and their usage rebounds to pre-pregnancy levels within two years of having a baby, according to a new University of Washington study.

24 Mar 2008

African-American women less likely to reduce drinking during pregnancy

New Saint Louis University research found that although white women are more likely to drink or binge drink prior to pregnancy, African-American women are less likely to reduce drinking during pregnancy, which may be linked to a higher rate of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) among the population.

20 Mar 2008

New draft Australian drink guidelines rubbished as unrealistic

The recently released Australian draft guidelines on alcohol which set a two-drinks-a-day limit on adults while warning pregnant women and young people not to drink at all, have been come in for some harsh criticism.

19 Feb 2008

Eye blinks may help to identify children prenatally exposed to alcohol

While children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) have identifiable craniofacial abnormalities, children with alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND) can have significant cognitive impairments without facial anomalies. An important new study has found that a deficit in eyeblink conditioning (EBC) can identify children with probable FAS, and may also serve to identify alcohol-exposed children who lack distinctive FAS features.

5 Feb 2008

A taste for alcohol may come from the womb

Young people whose mothers drank when pregnant may be more likely to abuse alcohol because, in the womb, their developing senses came to prefer its taste and smell.

13 Dec 2007

New understanding of biological effects of alcohol on genes within cells

Alcohol triggers the activation of a variety of genes that can influence the health and activity of brain cells, and new research from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City sheds light on how that process occurs.

10 Dec 2007

Technique that measures human face from 3D facial images may help diagnose fetal alcohol syndrome

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is the most extreme expression of alcohol's adverse effects on the developing fetus, and is part of the wider fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).

25 Sep 2007

Genetic risk for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder identified

New research in primates suggests that infants and children who carry a certain gene variant may be more vulnerable to the ill effects of fetal alcohol exposure.

24 Sep 2007

Prenatal alcohol exposure alters brain activity in the frontal-striatal areas

Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure does not always lead to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS); sometimes it can lead to cognitive and behavioral deficits in the absence of craniofacial features needed to make an FAS diagnosis.

25 Jul 2007

No alcohol in pregancy is the safest choice

Women should not drink alcohol while pregnant or planning to become pregnant, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians was told today in Melbourne.

8 May 2007

Simple eye movement test spots fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Canadian researchers have found that simple eye movement tests can effectively diagnose fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) in children.

26 Feb 2007

Reduced brain growth in alcoholics with family drinking history

The brains of alcohol-dependent individuals are affected not only by their own heavy drinking, but also by genetic or environmental factors associated with their parents- drinking, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

21 Feb 2007

Why we all carry on with those bad habits

If you have ever wondered why so many people continue to ignore public warnings and advertisements about the dangers of smoking, drinking alcohol and other habits that we know to be bad for us, a Canadian researcher may have the answer.

13 Nov 2006