Drinking during pregnancy

A federal law requires warning labels on alcoholic beverage containers. They state that women should not drink during pregnancy due to the risk of birth defects, and that alcoholic beverages impair your ability to drive a car or operate machinery and may cause other health problems. Lower costs and the availability of a smokable version leads to a resurgence in heroin use. 

Everybody wants to know the safe level of drinking during pregnancy. As our brief discussion of FAS suggests, no simple answer is available. Actually, it is best to think of FAS as the most severe result of a continuum of effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol (Rasmussen, 2005). Subtle behavioral or cognitive cfVects may be observed on the other end of the continuum. Each abnormal outcome may have its own yardstick of amount of alcohol exposure and timing of exposure (Jacob.son et al., 1993 USDHHS, 1990). 

A mother s drinking during pregnancy may result in fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in the newborn child. 

Santos, I.S., A. Matijasevich, and N.C. Valle. 2005. Mate drinking during pregnancy and risk of preterm and small for gestational age birth. /. Nutr. 135(5) 1120-1123. 

Fetotoxidty The effects of small amounts of alcohol and occasional binge drinking during pregnancy have been examined in relation to infant mortality in the neonates and infants of 79 216 mothers who gave birth to live single-tons and who provided information, while pregnant, on their alcohol consumption... 

Tellez R, Chacon PM, Crump KS, Blount BC, Gibbs JP (2005) Chronic environmental exposure to perchlorate through drinking water and thyroid function during pregnancy and the neonatal period. Thyroid 15 963-975... 

Recommendations do not consume alcohol during pregnancy, otherwise, limit consumption and do not drive a motor vehicle after drinking... 

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