Boozing and baby
A new study in the International Journal of Epidemiology suggests that having a couple of drinks a week during pregnancy isn’t the danger that some politicized folks would have you believe. What’s quite interesting is that in the past it’s been quite difficult to find studies that looked at (the likely majority of) women that have the occasional drink rather those that drink nothing or those that drink 2 or more per day. Of course there have been some interesting studies that show a variety of results related to pregnant drinking.
The pre-cautionary principle is best exemplified by this statement that seems to guide most pregnancy advice these days:
It may be safe to drink sparingly during pregnancy, around one or two drinks a week, but we don’t know so the message has to be that the safest level is not to drink. (Daily Mail article quoting Dr Maggie Blott)
The lack of trust for individuals to make decisions for themselves and their families (or families to be) is also trotted out by the BMA in response to the new paper:
Dr Vivienne Nathanson … said: “We are concerned that the findings from the UCL study may lull women into a false sense of security and give them the green light that there is no problem with drinking during pregnancy…”
Of course given genetic variability and the difficulty (and expense) of determining the ideal dose of virtually everything that you might consume while pregnant you’ll be stressed and likely underdosing on most everything you might regularly consume.
From the new study the bonus possible conclusion is:
“…it may also be that light-drinking mothers tend to be more relaxed themselves and this contributes to better behavioural and cognitive outcomes in their children.”
Thanks to James Henry for the tip.
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