Vodka with Red Bull is the most dangerous drink (Bedka story)
Every woman who was pregnant, and even those who weren't, knows that drinking alcohol during the nine months is not recommended and can cause damage to the fetus.
A new study is the first to identify a link between children whose mothers drank before and during pregnancy with certain facial changes.
A different face shape was also seen in cases where the amount of alcohol consumed amounted to less than a small glass of wine or a bottle of beer.
The study published in the journal Human Reproduction indicates that the shape of the child's face is a possible indicator of development, something that was already known in the case of fetal alcohol syndrome where heavy drinking during pregnancy leaves marks on the children's faces.
"The face reflects the general health of a child," said study leader Gennady Roschupkin, assistant professor and leader of the Computational Population Biology Group at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
"A child's exposure to alcohol before birth can have significant negative effects on his health development, and if a mother drinks a large amount regularly, this may cause a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which, among other things, is reflected in the children's faces."
Not recommended at all.
A pregnant woman and a glass of wine (Photo: ShutterStock)
To investigate further, researchers used artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning technology to look for patterns between the children's face shapes and the alcohol their mothers drank, both during pregnancy and a few months before conception.
They used 3D scans of thousands of nine- and 13-year-old participants from a longitudinal study in the Netherlands.
"We found a statistically significant relationship between prenatal alcohol exposure and the shape of the face in nine-year-old children," said study author Xianjing Liu, a doctoral student in Professor Roschupkin's group who developed the artificial intelligence algorithm.
"The more alcohol the mothers drank, the more statistically significant changes there were. The most common features were turned nose tip, shortened nose, outward chin and inward lower eyelid."
"Among the group of mothers who drank during pregnancy, we found that even if mothers drank very little during pregnancy, less than 12 grams per week, the relationship between exposure to alcohol and the shape of the children's faces could be seen. This is the first time that a relationship has been demonstrated at such low levels of alcohol consumption ".
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The link between face shape and maternal alcohol consumption decreased among the older group of children, but the researchers say that doesn't necessarily mean they aren't affected by other health problems.
In cases of fetal alcohol syndrome, exposure to alcohol can lead to neurological deficits, abnormal facial development and memory problems.
As such, the researchers suggest it raises questions about the possibility that health conditions are associated with children whose mothers drank small amounts before conception, even when it was stopped during pregnancy.
"The results of the study indicate that low-moderate maternal alcohol consumption up to three months before and during pregnancy is associated with children's facial appearance," the authors concluded.
Moreover, our research indicates that women who are pregnant or want to become pregnant soon should stop consuming alcohol several months before conception and completely during pregnancy to avoid negative health outcomes in the offspring."
health
Tags
alcohol
babies
pregnancy