title: Is mild-moderate drinking in pregnancy harmless? New experimental evidence to the opposite.
abstract: During the last decade a growing number of studies have failed to detect adverse neurodevelopmental effects of mild--to moderate maternal drinking in the exposed child, supporting a climate that "some drinking in pregnancy is OK". A recent experimental study in sheep, mimicking conditions of moderate drinking in the third trimester of pregnancy, provides powerful evidence that there are serious lifelong risks to fetal exposure to alcohol. These should serve as an alarm call to those who legitimize mild-moderate maternal drinking based on incomplete data.
authors.affiliation: The Ivey Chair in Molecular Toxicology, Western University, London, Canada.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Gideon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koren
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D063647:Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012756:Sheep; D013045:Species Specificity