It’s not news that pregnant women should abstain from alchohol. Evidence of fetal distress syndrome due to extreme alchohol consumption during pregnancy is clear. So the picture of my mom, pregnant with me, holding a cigarette and a martini is sobering when we look at it today (I’m fine. Really.)
On a less humorous note is a new study from the Research Center for Human Nutrition in France; results draw from already-published studies, and resolve that drinking alchohol during pregnancy is associated with a 56% increase in acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, a disease that afflicts about 700 children in the US each year.
Fortunately, in addition to the startling headlines (“Alchohol in Pregnancy Boosts Childhood Leukemia!”), there is balanced reporting that explores just how many children this may mean each year (four cases per year in the US). Of course, that may not feel like a small number if one of those cases is in your family (God forbid).
Read about the research here. But before you go, here are some startling stastitics:
60% of pregnant women in Russia drink alchohol
59% in Australia
52% in France
30% in Sweden
12% in the US
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