WHEN MOM BOOZES, BABY HAS EFFECTS FOR YEARS

By Michael Smith

The effects on growth and body composition of heavy prenatal exposure to alcohol are largely determined at birth and persist at least until age 9, researchers reported.

The finding, from a longitudinal study in South Africa, suggests that prenatal alcohol exposure may causes epigenetic changes that result in permanent restrictions on growth, according to R. Colin Carter, MD, of Children's Hospital Boston, and colleagues.

Most such effects did not get worse over time, however, Carter and colleagues wrote online in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

One important exception, they found, was that from 5 to 9, heavily exposed children had significantly slower growth in head circumference than did controls with low prenatal alcohol exposure.

The implications of the difference for later cognitive function are unclear, Carter and colleagues noted, and it's not yet known if it will persist.

The findings come from a long-running study in a poor community in Cape Town, South Africa, which has been following children born to 85 women who were heavy drinkers and 63 who were light drinkers or abstained completely.

For this analysis, heavy drinking was defined as two or more drinks a day or four or more drinks on a single occasion, while light drinking or abstention were defined as less than one drink a day and no binge drinking.

The children had their length/height, weight, and head circumference measured at 6.5 and 12 months, and again at 5 and 9 years. The researchers also measured iron deficiency in a subset of the cohort.

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