According to five paper from Danish researchers, it just might be. The work appeared in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology back in June. An exerpt from the news release:
he definition of a drink in these papers comes from the Danish National Board of Health, which states one standard drink is equal to 12 grams of pure alcohol.
However, the amount of alcohol in a standard drink varies significantly from country to country. In the UK the volume of alcohol in a drink is measured in units and one unit of alcohol is defined as 7.9 grams.1,628 women took part in the studies. The average maternal age was 30.9 years, 50.1% were first-time mothers, 12.1% were single and 31.4% reported smoking during pregnancy.
The papers looked at the effects of alcohol on IQ, attention span, executive functions such as planning, organisation, and self-control in five year old children.
Overall, the papers found that low to moderate weekly drinking in early pregnancy had no significant effect on neurodevelopment of children aged five years, nor did binge drinking. Focusing on children’s IQ and executive functions, no differences in test performance were observed between children whose mothers reported 1-4 or 5-8 drinks/week per week in pregnancy compared to children of abstaining mothers. However one finding showed that high levels of alcohol, intake of 9 or more drinks per week, was associated with lower attention span amongst five year olds…
I’d recommend not taking the risk. No matter what the study says.
