14 DAY TRIAL // A research whose findings were shared with the public this April 17 suggests that indulging in one or two sips of wine while pregnant does nothing to harm the child's development.
As the scientists who carried out these investigations explain, they could find no evidence to suggest that light drinking during pregnancy causes the child to experience either behavioral or cognitive issues shortly after being born or even throughout their entire childhood.
Prior to their concluding that light drinking does not impair a child's development, the University College London researchers assessed the social and emotional behavior of 10,534 children, all of whom were 7 years old.
As well as this, they asked the children to perform several tasks, which allowed the scientists to collect data concerning their maths, reading and spatial skills.
12.7% of the children who took part in this research were born to mothers who never drank, 57.1% had mothers who did drink in general but not during pregnancy, 23.1% had mothers who admitted to being light drinkers and 7.2% were born to women who drank more than recommended while being pregnant.
After comparing the data collected from children whose mothers never drank to the information concerning children whose mothers were light drinkers, the researchers concluded that there were no noteworthy differences amongst them.
“There appears to be no increased risk of negative impacts of light drinking in pregnancy on behavioral or cognitive development in 7-year-old children,” Professor Yvonne Kelly reportedly commented with respect to the findings of this investigation.
“However, it remains unclear as to what level of alcohol consumption may have adverse outcomes so this should not alter current advice and if women are worried about consumption levels the safest option would be to abstain from drinking during pregnancy,” the professor went on to argue.
The women labeled as light drinkers during this research were the ones who consumed no more than two weekly units of alcohol.