In ScienceDaily of December 03, 2013, there is yet another scientific study suggesting that alcohol use during pregnancy can have adverse effects especially on the frontal cortex of the brain which regulates motor skill learning, decision-making, planning, judgment, executive function and sociality. The study, which was published in the November 27, 2013 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, was of the effects of alcohol in pregnant mice whose mammalian brain is similar to the human brain.
The lead author of the study, Kelly Huffman, assistant professor of psychology at UC Riverside, stated: "If you consume alcohol when you are pregnant you can disrupt the development of your baby's brain ... This research helps us understand how substances like alcohol impact brain development and change behavior," Huffman explained. "It also shows how prenatal alcohol exposure generates dramatic change in the brain that leads to changes in behavior. ... Based on her earlier research, Huffman said, she expected to find some disruption of intraneocortical circuitry, but thought it would be subtle. "I was surprised that the result of alcohol exposure was quite dramatic," she said. "We found elevated levels of anxiety, disengaged behavior, and difficulty with fine motor coordination tasks. These are the kinds of things you see in children with FASD [Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders].... The bottom line, Huffman said, is that women who are pregnant or who are trying to get pregnant should abstain from drinking alcohol."
So, to be safe, a pregnant woman should probably abstain completely from alcohol use.
As always, comments are invited. Jan Edward Williams, www.alcoholdrugsos.com, 12/11/2013.
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