Alcohol and Pregnancy
People are often confused by what they have heard about alcohol and pregnancy. Or, they do not feel it is relevant to their situation.
Alcohol use during pregnancy is a leading preventable cause of intellectual disabilities. Not only can it damage the brain, but it can also lead to physical problems. Research proves that fetal tissue can sustain irreversible damage from alcohol which lasts a lifetime. Please click here to read about the potential damage that can occur.
The greater the alcohol consumption, the higher the risk of damage. However, in 2005 the Surgeon General of the Unites States proclaimed NO AMOUNT of alcohol is safe to use during pregnancy.
Wine, beer and hard liquor all have alcohol content. Therefore, none are safe to use during pregnancy. In fact, a glass of wine (5 ounces) has about the same amount of alcohol as a bottle of beer (12 ounces) or a shot of hard liquor (1.25 ounces)!
Unfortunately, many women do not know they are pregnant right away but damage can happen very early in the pregnancy. Just because a woman does not know she is pregnant, DOES NOT mean alcohol is safe.
When alcohol causes a specific combination of damage the person may have
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). When this specific combination is not present, the person may have one of many diagnosis that make up fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) affect all socio-economic and ethnic groups and hit all geographic regions. It is estimated that as many as 1 out of every 100 births in the United States have a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The costs of this impact is huge. Not only in the human perspective, but also in economic terms.
Even if you are not pregnant, you have the ability to impact the life of a future child ... simply by spreading this information. No child ever has to be born again damaged by prenatal alcohol exposure!!
