According to a brand new study, British women are the worst in Europe for drinking while pregnant – with a whopping one in three continuing to enjoy alcohol throughout their pregnancies.
Researchers from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health surveyed 7,905 women from 11 European countries, and the results are rather shocking.
While only four percent of Norwegian mums-to-be admitted to having had a drink when they were expecting, a staggering 29 percent of UK mums admitted to boozing while pregnant.
The average figure for drinking when pregnant across the countries (including Croatia, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK) was 16 percent.
Among women who confessed to drinking while expecting, 39 percent consumed at least one unit of alcohol per month.
In Britain alone, more than 6000 babies a year are born with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and it is widely known that and alcohol can seriously affect the development of an unborn baby, increasing the risk of miscarriage, premature birth, low birth weight, learning difficulties and behavioural problems.
Professor Lesley Regan from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists admit the findings are “worrying”.
“There is no proven safe amount of alcohol a woman can drink during pregnancy,” Regan explains. “We know that heavy drinking can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and it has also been linked with an increased risk of miscarriage. Abstinence from alcohol is the safest option, in particular for women trying to conceive or during the first three months of pregnancy.”
(Feature image via Whitneyport.com)
