Alcohol Consumption and Pregnancy

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Media Reports on Alcohol Consumption in Pregnancy
Biological Effects of Alcohol Consumption
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Media outlets have been seen to repeatedly produce false premises about various medical issues among them being alcohol consumption by women and the effects to unborn children (Adickes, et.al, 1993, pp. 285). These usually reflect opinions held by the general population and leads to stigmatization of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). This kind of repetition of producing inaccurate information results when the producers do carry through investigation and ends up conducting first-person interviews. The misconceptions however, have been found to contain some truths in it (Warnecke, 1991, pp. 120).

Media Reports on Alcohol Consumption in Pregnancy

Some of the false premises produces by the media group include; science is not accurate on alcohol consumption during pregnancy which is not true. There are many articles produced by the medical group stipulating risks of alcohol consumption to the unborn child and advising women to abstain from it because it may lead to birth defects. This has led to the warning signs on alcohol bottles in the United States (Guarnieri, and Lakatta, 1990, pp. 1460). Alcohol contains Teratogens also called neurotoxins which are very dangerous to the developing fetus at any time during pregnancy. Alcohol is also absorbed in the baby’s blood thus the harmful effects. Medical researchers having provided all those facts, there are no basis for the media to claim that there is lack of scientific prove of all the effects thus it is the role of the individuals to take care of their lives and that of the unborn babies (Shulgin, 2001, pp.64).

Media claims researchers have found that drinking alcohol responsibly or moderate use of alcohol is less likely to affect the unborn child. This is however very wrong, medical researchers argue that individuals’ dose response determines the amount that can be safely taken by a pregnant woman (Park, and Levenson, 2002, pp. 490). Moderate drinking can also be harmful to the unborn baby and occasional drinking is associated with future problems of attention seeking behavior, hyperactivity and problems in problem solving skills. Scientists therefore advise total abstinence to alcohol during pregnancy.

Media reports show that drinking distilled spirits is can be harmful to the unborn child but beer or wine has less effects. This is not true and medical research show that all beers and wine do contain alcohol and the difference is the alcohol content in the drink and the amount of drink consumed by the pregnant woman (Vanessa, et.al. pp. 148). The idea that wine and beer are not harmful only portrays societal perception but not facts. Pregnant women should know that teratogens may suffer from brain damage or any other physical damage unlike dangers posed by cocaine whose effects are not permanent (Streissguth, 1993, pp. 473).

Biological Effects of Alcohol Consumption

Medics argue that from research carried out, men suffer more than women from disorders resulting from alcohol use. They too argue that there are more physical negative effects as a result of alcohol consumption in women than in men. It is faster in women and extreme than their men counterparts (Olson, et.al, 1998, pp. 1999). This is because of the genetic composition of acts more in women in comparison to men. Various studies have been undertaken and shows genetics has a great role in the effects of alcohol consumption to all human kind. It plays a role in determining the amount and frequency of alcohol consumption (Kinzler, 1991, pp. 590). They however argue that concluding women has lesser chances of alcohol disorders than men could have resulted in sampling fewer women than men.

Research shows women have more levels of ethanol in their blood than men do. This was concluded after a sample group was administered with same amount of alcohol and the results taken (Sandor, et.al, 2001, pp.772). This was suggested could result due to women’s sizes being smaller than that of men hence water content is less in the women’s body per kilogram. On the other hand men have their enzyme Gastric Alcohol Dehydrogenase active than the women thus more alcohol is absorbed into the blood of the women than in men and hence it is more likely to affect the unborn baby (Garner and Klinger, 1999, pp. 310).

Human and animal research shows that alcohol consumption has adverse effects to the development of the Central Nervous System (CNS). They are categorized into two; teratogens which affects the CNS causing problems causing neurobehavioral dysfunction. It contains so many other toxic chemicals (Pieroq, et.al, 1999, pp.630). Alcohol do not only affect the body of the expectant mother causing general weakness hence a poor environment for growth by the unborn child but also the mother suffers general weaknesses (Hannigan, 1996, pp. 490). Alcohol also may lead to the pregnant mother losing appetite thus making the baby to suffer from malnutrition. The mother may also fall causing some physical to her and the unborn child.

Alcohol may also lead to cardiac defects to the unborn child. Experiment carried out on rats when fed with ethanol confirmed that they tend to lose the heart weight. This show that it may lead to altered myocardial (Hanson, et.al, 1996, pp. 1460). It also reduces cellular content from the heart thus explaining the reduced weight and further decreasing the cytoskeleton (Hannigan, 1996, pp. 497). Ethanol do not have the same content with the water content in the heart so it tends to diffuse leaving the heart to shrink without enough water and hence it becomes weak leading to many other heart diseases to the unborn child or even after they are born.

Conclusion

In conclusion, alcohol consumption has drastically gone up especially among teenagers giving researchers more reasons to carry out more studies on its adverse effects to them and how it may affect their future. This has also contributed to early teenage pregnancy and as a result more alcohol consumption among the pregnant women. This has then led to the many numbers of children born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (Abel and Hannigan, 1995, pp. 459). There has been need to educate all people on the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy whether responsibly or not is not good and instead people should completely abstain from it especially in pregnancy due to the lasting effects it has to the unborn child as well as the mother. It also leads to unnecessary expenditure when the child is born as they try to seek medical care which would have been avoided if the pregnant mother was more responsible. Therefore, alcohol consumption is wrong during pregnancy and should be avoided fully.

References

Abel, E. L. and Hannigan, J. H. (1995) Maternal risk factors in fetal alcohol syndrome: provocative and permissive influences. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 71, 445–462.

Adickes, E. D., Mollner, T. J. and Makoid, M. C. (1993) Ethanol-induced teratogenic alterations in developing cardiomyocytes in culture. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 28(2), 283–288.

Garner, L.F. and Klinger, J.D. (1999) Some Visual Effects Caused by the Beverage Kava. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 13(3), 307-311.

Guarnieri, T. and Lakatta, E. G. (1990) Mechanism of myocardial contractile depression by clinical concentrations of ethanol. A study in ferret papillary muscles. Journal of Clinical Investigation 85, 1462–1467.

Hannigan, J. H. (1996) What research with animals is telling us about alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorders. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior. 55, 489–500.

Hanson, J., Jones, K., and Smith, D. (1996) Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Experience with 41 patients. JAMA, 235, 1458-1460.

Kinzler, E., Kromer, J., and Lehmann, E. (1991) Effect of a Special Kava Extract in Patients with Anxiety, Tension, and Excitation States of Non-Psychotic Genesis. Double Blind Study with Placebos Over 4 Weeks. Arzneimittelforschung, 41(6), 584-588.

Olson, H.C., Feldman, J. J., Streissguth, A. P, Sampson, P D., and Bookstein, F. L. (1998) Neuropsychological deficits in adolescents with foetal alcohol syndrome: Clinical findings.Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 22, 1998-2012.

Park, C. L., and Levenson, M. R. (2002) Drinking to cope among college students: Prevalence, problems and coping processes. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 63, 486-497.

Pieroq, S., Chandauasu, O., and Wexler, I. (1999) Withdrawal symptoms in infants with the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Journal of Pediatr, 90(4), 630.

Sandor, G., Smith, D., and MacLeod, P. (2001) Cardiac malformations in the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Journal of Pediatr, 98(5), 771-773.

Shulgin, A. (2001) The Narcotic Pepper-The Chemistry and Pharmacology of Piper Methysticum and Related Species. Bulletin on Narcotics, 25(2), 59-74.

Streissguth, A. (1993) Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: An epidemiological perspective. Am J Epidemiol, 107(6), 467-478.

Vanessa E., Murphy, R., Warwick, B., and Vicki L. (2001) Endocrine Regulation of Human Fetal Growth: The Role of the Mother, Placenta, and Fetus Endocrine Reviews, 27 (2), 141-169.

Warnecke, G. (1991) Psychosomatic Dysfunctions in the Female Climacteric: Clinical Effectiveness and Tolerance of Kava Extract WS 1490. Fortschr Med, 109(4), 119-122.

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