Women binge drinking before pregnancy can have life-long effects on children
Binge drinking women before they become pregnant risk of harming their babies, a study suggests.
Women taking excessive alcohol even before pregnancy are more likely to have children with high blood sugar, increasing their chances of developing diabetes as adults.
For women, binge drinking is defined as having the equivalent of four or more drinks in about two hours.
United States medical research on binge drinking conducted a study on rats – the basic processes of glucose function are similar to those in humans – a team of researchers at Rutgers University in the United States.
Alcohol was given to female rats for four weeks, which raised their blood alcohol to extreme high levels to those of human binge drinkers.
Later after four weeks alcohol was taken out from their diet and they were bred three weeks later – equal to several months in humans.
Those rates adult offspring were compared with the offspring of rats that didn’t receive alcohol before conception.
University doctors found that the offspring of rats exposed to alcohol before conception had several signs of unstable glucose function.
Professor Dipak Sarkar senior professor let the study, he is also the director of the endocrine research programme at the New Jersey university.
Head researcher Prof Sarkar said: “The effects of saviour alcohol use during pregnancy on an unborn child are well known, including obvious possible multiple birth defects and learning and behaviour problems.
“However, it is not known whether a mother’s alcohol use before conception also could have negative effects on her child’s health and disease susceptibility during adulthood.”
Study co-author Ali Al-Yasari, a doctoral candidate, warned of “lifelong effects” on offspring.
Press journalist for HRO media – Ignacio Damigo reports.
Category: Health and Fitness
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