Wine and Pregnancy

[Rebel Rose]

I would like to point everyone to Daniel Rogov's (fellow eG Society member) article on Wine and Pregnancy - Lies That Women Are Told at the Women Wine Critics Board website.

His article has elicitied several comments, as well as the following links and reviews from other sites:

Critical Cloud

"Read 'Wine and Pregnancy--The Lies Women Are Told' from the delightful Women Wine Critics Board website."

Fermentation

"The article at Women Wine Critics Board is strong. Read it."

There are also more comments on this article at the Fermentation site under Wine and the Devil's Child

Vines & Wines

"This article at Women Wine Critics Board wonderfully summarizes the debate about alcohol and fetal alcohol sydrome. Excellent references are given."

Vinography

"Another excellent bit of writing on the internet, this time about a very interesting and controversial subject: drinking and pregnancy."

Congratulations to Daniel for creating such a strong and outspoken piece. I'd like to encourage anyone interested in this topic to read Daniel's piece and comment here. There seem to be very black and white camps on the issue!

[jsolomon]

The comments under Wine and the Devil's Child are supremely in line with what I learned while becoming a lactation consultant. The moral boils almost completely down to this:

Keep momma happy while gestating or lactating, and biology will take care of itself.

I think it is fabulous that someone is championing this cause. I hope the research continues so that when I have my medical degree I can say to expecting mothers, go ahead and have a beer or a glass of wine with your meal.

But, promise me two things: you'll drink in moderation, and eat all of your vegetables.

I also think that it is a damned shame that chocolate showed up on that list.

Here are a couple of related studies published in journals:

Alcohol, wine, and health.    de Lorimier A A    Department of Surgery, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA      American journal of surgery  (2000),  180(5),  357-61.  Ref: 42.  Journal code: 0370473.  ISSN:0002-9610.  United States.  Journal; Article; (JOURNAL ARTICLE); General Review; (REVIEW); (REVIEW, TUTORIAL)  written in English.    PubMed ID 11137687 AN 2001101927    MEDLINE

Kaskutas L A  Understanding drinking during pregnancy among urban American Indians and African Americans: health messages, risk beliefs, and how we measure consumption.    Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research  (2000),  24(8),  1241-50.  Journal code: 7707242.  ISSN:0145-6008.  PubMed ID 10968664 AN 2001064016    MEDLINE

Lifestyle and drinking habits during pregnancy.    Carta G; D'Alfonso A; Iovenitti P; Matteucci M; Mascaretti G; Moscarini M    Clinica Ginecologica ed Ostetrica, Universita degli Studi, L'Aquila      Minerva ginecologica  (2000),  52(1-2),  5-10.  Journal code: 0400731.  ISSN:0026-4784.  Italy.  Journal; Article; (JOURNAL ARTICLE)  written in Italian.    PubMed ID 10851857 AN 2000310406    MEDLINE

alcohol and pregnancy: what is the level of risk?.    Tat-Ha C    M. Sc., Chargee de programme en toxicologie industrielle au Centre de toxicologie de Quebec, Canada      Journal de toxicologie clinique et experimentale  (1990),  10(2),  105-14.  Ref: 67.  Journal code: 8606713.  ISSN:0753-2830.  France.  Journal; Article; (JOURNAL ARTICLE); General Review; (REVIEW); (REVIEW, TUTORIAL)  written in French.    PubMed ID 2201763 AN 90355052    MEDLINE

Confounding variables in studying the effects of maternal alcohol consumption before and during pregnancy.    Walpole I; Zubrick S; Pontre J    Department of Paediatrics, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth, Western Australia      Journal of epidemiology and community health  (1989),  43(2),  153-61.  Journal code: 7909766.  ISSN:0143-005X.  ENGLAND: United Kingdom.  Journal; Article; (JOURNAL ARTICLE)  written in English.    PubMed ID 2592904 AN 90079335    MEDLINE

Patterns of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.    Halmesmaki E; Raivio K O; Ylikorkala O    Obstetrics and gynecology  (1987),  69(4),  594-7.  Journal code: 0401101.  ISSN:0029-7844.  United States.  Journal; Article; (JOURNAL ARTICLE)  written in English.    PubMed ID 3822301 AN 87145451    MEDLINE

Fetal alcohol syndrome: a dilemma of maternal alcoholism.    Krous H F    Pathology annual  (1981),  16 Pt 1 295-311.  Ref: 89.  Journal code: 0050610.  ISSN:0079-0184.  United States.  Journal; Article; (JOURNAL ARTICLE); General Review; (REVIEW)  written in English.    PubMed ID 7036069 AN 82126513    MEDLINE

Wine: its uses in clinical practice.    Rogers E J    JOGN nursing; journal of obstetric, gynecologic, and neonatal nursing  (1976),  5(6),  24-6.  Journal code: 0347421.  ISSN:0090-0311.  United States.  Journal; Article; (JOURNAL ARTICLE)  written in English.    PubMed ID 1049733 AN 77054593    MEDLINE

Reading the abstracts of these shows that there is much conflicting information out there. I highly recommend that interested parties read at least one of the pre-1990 and one of the post-1990 articles to gain a better understanding of how medical opinions change based on a number of variables.

[docsconz]

Rogov's article is a good one and comes back to the saying that my late father (also a physician) instilled in me when I was growing up, "Anything and everything in moderation."

[jsolomon]

docsconz, you forgot Wilde's corollary to that, "including moderation".

[ivan]

What about curry and pregnancy?

[KatieLoeb]

I'm very much in agreement with all that Daniel said. I've known several women with high risk pregnancies who were told by their physicians to drink a glass of wine to relax. Pregnant women probably shouldn't be doing shots of tequila or three martini lunches, but a glass of wine never hurt anyone. Lest we forget there was a time when fermented beverages were safer than the drinking water and women drank wine or mead all day long, squatted in the field to give birth and continued sheaving wheat as if nothing had happened. I'm not suggesting we go back to a time when the average life expectancy was 35 and many women died in childbirth, but the facts are that normal healthy babies were born to strong healthy women that drank moderately throughout their pregnancies. And those that died in childbirth didn't die from drinking but from lack of medical technology. With all the technology we have today you'd think there would be less fear mongering and more solid information being disseminated to women all over the world.

[Genny]

I studied Child Development in college (early 90's) and I've always been amazed at the reaction to pregnancy and alcohol subject. My understanding is that the main driver (at least initially) cautioning women to watch their alcohol intake during pregnancy was to avoid Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). However, it was determined back then that this was more a question of quantity, not abstinance. Getting drunk can hinder mental development and have minor to major ramifications. However a glass of wine or a mixed drink should have no negative consequences. If I ever get pregnant, I'm not going to worry about my consumption. And if anyone happens to confront me, I'll happily point them to the path of enlightenment.

Conversely, any amount of smoking cigarettes can have some minor effect on the development of a child and I've seen a number of women choose to abstain from alcohol completely during pregnancy but continue smoking...go figure.

[docsconz]

This whole approach stems from a belief that if a lot is bad then none must be best. It is a very defensive approach given that it is difficult if not impossible to determine at what point alcohol becomes a problem for the pregnant mother and the fetus. It is not unlike a lot of defensive medicine that is practiced. It is a lot more difficult to prove that a bad outcome was the result of advice not to drink any alcohol than saying it is ok and have a pregnant woman take that to mean free rein with alcohol and wind up with FAS.

[LindaJ]

Loved the article. Finally, the voice of sanity backed up with scientific studies.

I drank a few glasses of wine throughout my pregnancy. Baby is 15 months old today and is way smarter than I am. I've gotten so tired of defending my position to shocked people that I've stopped mentioning it. Or the fact that other countries tolerate or even approve of a glass of wine during pregnancy. I abstained for the first three months because that's when things can most go wrong from environmental factors. But after the amnio, I just tried to eat right and go with the flow.

When I did my pre-labor checkin at the hospital, I had to fill out a long ass questionnaire about all the smoking I did (none). And the nurse didn't blink when I told her I drank a few glasses of wine, but became very concerned over my ice tea habit. Caffeine and smoking cause way more problems in terms of complications, pre-term labor, fetus size, premature delivery, etc. than moderate drinking.

[KevV]

What about curry and pregnancy?

People have been discussing wine consumption. I am assuming you're wondering whether curry is safe to eat - not drink - during pregnancy?

My ever-wary mum brought this up too. My wife is 'expecting' and I, the family cook, often make curries. My mum cautioned against it, most likely recalling the general advice that was in vogue back in 1971 in Canada when I was born.

I'm no scientist, but I guess my reply would be - well, with well over 1 billion people living in South Asia, curry can't be too much of a danger...

[Jenny McClure]

The curry thing, the only reason I can think that women should not eat curry is that can as it can induce labour. However maybe that is another one of those old wives tales. A friend of mione did try this as she went into her second week past due date. She eventually had to be induced in hospital. So maybe that says it all.

[KevV]

The curry thing, the only reason I can think that women should not eat curry is that can as it can induce labour...

Yup! [chuckle ] Sounds like N.America again - circa '71.

What I wonder is if, in a place like Bangladesh, if people generally advise pregnant women to minimise the risk of early labour by avoiding bland Western food!

I spent 2 years in Sri Lanka and I wish I could say I heard something like that but, sadly, no.