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All it takes to kill your baby's brain cells
February 17 2004 at 05:51AM
Seattle - Neurologist John Olney told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in
Seattle over the weekend that studies on mice showed that a blood alcohol level in a pregnant women of 0.07 per cent, the
level produced by two drinks, was enough to kill the developing brain cells of her fetus.
The researcher from Washington University in St Louis said one glass of wine might not be a problem, but if the one glass
leads to more alcohol consumption, even later in the day, the mother-to-be is putting her unborn child at greater risk because
she is keeping her alcohol level at an increased level over time.
Olney said alcohol kills brain cells by interfering with their ability to make synaptic connections, which is particularly
important in fetuses, babies and toddlers because such connections are part of the process of building a network in the brain
and take place from the sixth month of pregnancy to several years of age.
If brain cells fail to make synaptic connections, they are biologically programmed to die, Olney said.
New mom-child alcohol link found
By Julia Sommerfeld
Seattle Times staff reporter
A woman's heavy drinking during pregnancy triples the chances that her child will show signs of alcohol problems by young
adulthood, new research suggests.
Maternal alcohol use has been linked to a variety of problems in offspring, including mental retardation, developmental
delays and behavioral disorders. But this study is the first to tie prenatal alcohol exposure to later drinking problems,
said co-author Ann Streissguth, head of the University of Washington's Fetal Alcohol and Drug Unit.
For more information
UW Fetal Alcohol and Drug Unit: depts.washington.edu/fadu/
The fetal-alcohol syndrome site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fas/default.htm
The finding, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, is part of a broader UW study that has been tracking 433
young adults since before birth.
The study began in 1974 when it was common and socially acceptable for pregnant women to drink alcohol. Eighty percent
of mothers in the study drank during pregnancy or during the months before they knew they were pregnant.
Nearly one-third of the mothers drank "heavily", "five or more drinks" on at least one occasion during
pregnancy. When their children were interviewed at age 21, 14 percent showed signs of alcohol problems, compared with just
4.5 percent of those whose mothers drank less.
The link held true even after researchers controlled for factors such as demographics, family history of alcoholism, growing
up around alcohol and exposure to nicotine.
"This raises the possibility that the inheritance of alcoholism is more complex than just genetics," said Dr.
Sam Cullison, director of Swedish Medical Center's addiction-recovery program. "It could partly be a poisonous effect
of prenatal exposure."
The study found no difference in the reported amount of drinking by 21-year-olds whose mothers drank heavily in pregnancy
versus those whose mothers hadn't drunk heavily. (Overall, more than 80 percent of the children said they were current alcohol
users, consuming an average of 3.79 drinks per occasion, 5.77 times per month.)
The disparity lay in how the two groups handled alcohol. Those born to heavy-drinking mothers were three times more likely
to show symptoms of alcohol dependence, including blackouts, hangovers, being physically sick, staggering and unclear thinking.
The fact that the offspring were 21 when they were interviewed complicates the findings because the college-age years
are generally the period of heaviest drinking for most people. Many people who drink heavily during those years curb the habit
by their mid-20s; however, most lifelong alcoholics begin showing drinking problems by this age, so it's hard to identify
who's who, said lead author Dr. John Baer, a research associate professor of psychology at the UW.
"We don't know if this effect is seen at one point in time or if this leads to long-term problems with alcohol,"
Baer said, adding that the researchers will continue to follow the group.
A previous study of this population at age 14 showed the first hints of a link between prenatal exposure and experimenting
with alcohol.
The findings underscore the message that women who have a chance of becoming pregnant should be vigilant about avoiding
alcohol, said Streissguth, who more than 20 years ago first helped identify fetal alcohol syndrome. FAS refers to a set of
physical, mental and behavioral defects caused by a woman's use of alcohol during pregnancy.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates between 1,200 and 8,800 babies are born in the United States
each year with FAS and many more have less-severe impairments.
Adult Brain Damage
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