No amount of alcohol is safe to drink during pregnancy, finds new study

No amount of alcohol is safe for pregnant women to drink, according to new research.

A study has found that teenagers who were exposed to alcohol while in the womb suffer mentally. Teenagers in the study were shown to have poorer cognitive performance due to weakened connections between the left and right sides of the brain. This connection issue has previously been linked to conditions like schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, autism, depression and abnormalities in sensation. The team made up of international researchers used responses recorded by brain imaging technology in their investigation, according to The Scotsman. They concluded that drinking any amount of alcohol at any stage of pregnancy poses a risk.

“Our study... shows that there is no safe amount or safe stages during pregnancy for alcohol consumption”said Professor Celso Grebogi of the University of Aberdeen's Institute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology.

“Furthermore, there is not only loss of connectivity in the brain, but this may result in cognitive impairments such autism, schizophrenia, dementia.”

Here in Ireland, it's estimated that 82 per cent of first-time pregnancies are exposed to alcohol. "Nearly one in two were being exposed to very high levels of alcohol," HSE Specialist in Public Health Medicine, Dr Mary O’Mahon told The Mirror last year. “It’s very common. “We have a problem in that our health professionals do not consistently provide information on the dangers of alcohol during pregnancy. “It’s unfortunately the social norm to drink in Ireland and it’s the same during pregnancy.”