Alcohol During Pregnancy Damages Learning and Memory in Children, Study Finds

Consuming alcohol during pregnancy can leave an adverse impact on the baby's brain, researchers say.

A team of researchers from Xinxiang Medical University in China found that maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy damaged learning and memory in children.

Prof. Ruiling Zhang and team reached the conclusion after conducting experiments on pregnant rats.  They noticed that the exposure to ethanol in the mother's womb changed the normal function of an enzyme known as cyclin-dependent Kinase 5 (CDK5), that plays a major role in the proper development of brain and its activator p35 in the hippocampus, the brain area involved in the development, organization and storage of memory.

The study has been published in the journal Neural Regeneration Research.

The risks associated with maternal alcohol consumption have long been a topic of discussion around the world.  Countless studies in the past have shown that drinking alcohol during pregnancy increased the risks of fetal alcohol syndrome, birth defects, low birth weight and developmental disabilities in the offspring. But contradicting the negative impact, many studies have also reported light drinking in pregnancy don't pose any harm to the child's neurological development.

Citing the negative effects of exposure to alcohol in the womb, doctors recommend women to create a totally alcohol-free environment by abstaining from drinking when they start planning for a baby. However, a latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found that one out of 13 pregnant women still consumed alcohol in US. The tendency was found more prevalent among older and educated women.