Drinking Wine & Pregnancy

Overview

Drinking any kind of alcohol during pregnancy is believed to be a leading cause of birth defects. Fetal alcohol syndrome causes babies to be born small and underweight. They can have small eyes and small heads. Other defects can include delayed development, heart defects and vision or hearing problems. Babies may have behavioral problems as they grow older or suffer from mental retardation.

Preventable

There is no kind of alcohol that is safe to drink during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is also no safe time during pregnancy to drink and no known safe amount of alcohol. The CDC states that Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs) are 100 percent preventable if a woman does not drink alcohol during her pregnancy.

Benefits

Wine is seen as having healthful properties when taken in moderation. Studies since the 1980s have shown two glasses of wine a day may protect against heart disease. Drinking wine when you are pregnant, however, is a different story.

Delivery

A study of 4,719 women in Australia over a 10-year period showed that even moderate drinking in the first trimester of pregnancy increases the risk of delivering preterm infants. Heavy drinkers and binge drinkers were at the highest risk for preterm births, according to the 2007 study sponsored by the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Western Australia and the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Uncertainty

Smaller amounts of alcohol, including wine, may lower the risk of birth defects compared to heavier drinking. But because there is still uncertainty, many people believe it is better to abstain from all alcoholic beverages during pregnancy. Bottles of wine, and other alcoholic drinks, contain warnings from the U.S. Surgeon General that women should not drink alcoholic beverages because of the risks involved.

Extreme

Supporters of moderate drinking, especially wine connoisseurs, say researchers and government officials are frightening women who are pregnant and may be able to handle responsible drinking on occasion. But Dr. Robert J. Sokol, a lead researcher in a study reported in the June 2007 issue of "Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research," said that because there is such a substantial risk of extreme preterm delivery, women are better off not drinking during pregnancy. Sokol, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Wayne State University, and colleagues found that maternal alcohol use during pregnancy contributes to an increased risk for extreme preterm delivery, defined as less than 32 weeks of gestation. They studied 3,130 pregnant women and their infants.