No amount of alcohol is safe to consume in pregnancy
● Scots scientists take step forward in understanding foetal brain growth
No amount of alcohol is safe to consume during pregnancy at any stage, Scottish scientists have said.
A team of researchers, including experts from the University of Aberdeen, have taken a major step forward in understanding how expectant mothers’ consumption of alcohol affects foetal brain development.
The international group investigated the biological changes in the brain that drive foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDS) using complex network theory to analyse brain signals.
Their findings are published in the journal Chaos.
Researchers, including Professor C el so G re bogi from the university’ s Institute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology( I CS MB) and Professor Lin Gao,a long-term visiting researcher, found teenagers who had been exposed to alcohol while in the womb showed altered brain connections that were consistent with impaired cognitive performance.
Their findings were reached by measuring the responses from a brain imaging technique called magnet o encephalography and then analysing them with tools developed using chaos theory.
Alison Douglas, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said: “This research provides further evidence supporting the Chief Medical Offic - ers’ advice that women who are pregnant or trying to conceive should avoid drinking alcohol. What we need to see is this message – and the reasons why it is so important – communicated through social marketing, but also through GPs, family planning and ante-natal services who talk to women about their drinking when advising on fertility or pregnancy.”
The group’s efforts mark one of the first times researchers have been able to quantify in detail the effects of amount of alcohol exposure on the developing brain.
FASDS are one of the leading causes of intellectual disability worldwide and are linked to a wide array of neurological issues including ADHD. While the prevailing theory links expectant mothers’ alcohol consumption to cognitive impairments in children, questions about the extent of this effect remain. Despite the known link, researchers are uncertain about the precise mechanism by which alcohol alters the developing brain.
Prof G re bog is aid :“Our study shows that there is no safe amount or safe stages during pregnancy for alcohol consumption. Furthermore, there is not only loss of connectivity in the brain, but this may result in cognitive impairments such autism, schizo - phrenia, dementia.”
Data was collected from FASD patients and 21 healthy volunteers without FASDs, and revealed several areas of the brain that showed impaired connectivity among the FASD group.
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