RESEARCHERS at the University of Bristol, UK, assessing the impact of prenatal maternal alcohol intake on the foetus via a systematic review and meta-analysis, reported they were surprised to find a lack of strong data.
However, scientists say a lack of evidence of harm does not imply a lack of harm and strongly recommend against any alcohol at all, due to a range of known effects on the developing brain.
Established effects include changes to nerve migration and neurotransmitter production along with cognitive impairment.
In addition, maternal ingestion of alcohol is associated with babies being small for gestational age, preterm delivery, developmental delays and more.
Refer to bmjopen.bmj.com.
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