Even a couple of drinks could harm an unborn baby

A new study is suggesting that mothers who drink even low levels of alcohol during pregnancy could permanently damage their children's intelligence.

The study, by scientists in Detroit, of seven-and-a-half-year-olds, found lower IQ scores, and memory and problem-solving difficulties among those who had had low-level exposure to alcohol during pregnancy.

The research, which the Department of Health says it is considering, challenges current British Government advice, that pregnant women can safely consume one to two units of alcohol a week.

It has been established for a long time that serious problems such as severe learning difficulties and physical abnormalities can occur when women drink large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy, leading to foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

But this study is now saying that more research is needed to look at the damage caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol at lower levels.

According to Julie Croxford, from Wayne State University in Detroit, previously the main focus of studies was placed on studying full-blown FAS, but more recent research has considered those individuals damaged by lower levels of exposure.

In the study the team looked at 337 African-American children who were exposed to moderate to heavy levels of alcohol in the womb.

It was found that the children were able to perform memory, number and other tasks as well as other youngsters when the tasks were simple, such as naming colours, but when the children were encouraged make quicker responses, their processing speed slowed down significantly.

Researcher Matthew Burden, says prenatal alcohol exposure is often associated with slower reaction times, and poorer attention in infancy, and some of these deficits may be at the core of poorer academic performance and behaviour problems often seen later in childhood.

Burden, says that in cases of FAS, lower IQ scores are common, often reaching the level of retardation, and this is because alcohol consumed by the mother has a direct impact on the brain of the foetus.

He also says that full FAS is not essential to see this impact; it is just less obvious to detect across the array of exposures found in foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), which include effects of prenatal alcohol at lower drinking levels.

What this means, says Ms Croxford, is that it is likely that these children may be more and more challenged the older they get, by the demands placed on them within the school system, and within their day-to-day social interactions.

She says the study reinforces the current public health message, that women should not drink alcohol during pregnancy.

It is estimated that one baby in every 3,000 suffers from the full effects of FAS, while others are struck with milder forms of symptoms.

In the UK campaigners have said that the only safe level of alcohol during pregnancy, is no alcohol at all, and the recommended limits are too high.

According to the Department of Health the current advice is that women who are pregnant or who are trying to get pregnant should not drink more than 1-2 units of alcohol per week.

Apparently this guidance was reviewed as part of the Government's Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy in March last year and was found to be safe.

The department says it would be interested to see any further research into this area, but current evidence does not justify them changing their advice.

The research does however support warnings from British scientists in the last year.

The study is published in the journal, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.