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 When researchers examined data from facial images for 415
one-year-old children, they found subtle changes in babies’ faces
mostly around the nose, eyes and lips associated with almost all
levels of alcohol exposure regardless of whether drinking occurred
only in the first trimester or throughout the pregnancy.
“We are surprised to see these differences in facial shape with low
doses of alcohol exposure, which in our study was defined as two
standard drinks on any one occasion and no more than seven in a
week,” said lead study author Evelyne Muggli of the Murdoch
Children’s Research Institute and the University of Melbourne in
Australia.
“This means that any level of alcohol contributes to the way the
face is formed and raises questions about the possible impact on
brain development, which is the subject of further research,” Muggli
said by email.
The facial changes found in the study are so subtle they aren’t
visible to the naked eye, Muggli said. They can only be seen with
sophisticated three-dimensional facial shape analysis, and they
don’t necessarily mean that unborn babies have been harmed if
mothers consumed some alcohol while pregnant, Muggli added.
But differences around the middle of the face and nose seen with
alcohol exposure during pregnancy in the study resemble anomalies
associated with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, researchers report
in JAMA Pediatrics.
Differences were most pronounced between children with no exposure
to alcohol in utero and children with low exposure in the first
trimester, particularly in the forehead, the study found.
Compared to children not exposed to any alcohol when their mothers
were pregnant, kids with moderate to high exposure in the first
trimester had differences in their eyes, mid-face and chin. Changes
in the chin were also seen with binge drinking in the first
trimester
Most women who do drink during pregnancy only drink a little bit and
often stop once they realize they’re pregnant, limiting fetal
alcohol exposure to the first trimester, Carol Bower of the
University of Western Australia writes in an accompanying editorial.
Up to about one in 20 children may be affected by fetal alcohol
spectrum disorder (FASD), which can lead to cognitive impairment
including irreversible brain damage.
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Children exposed to alcohol in the womb may have learning challenges
such as deficits in memory or speech as well as behavior problems
like hyperactivity.
The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove how or if
different levels of alcohol exposure at different points in
pregnancy might impact children’s faces, or cause specific
developmental problems.
In addition, all of the children in the study were white, and it’s
possible facial changes associated with alcohol exposure during
pregnancy might look different in children from other racial or
ethnic groups, the researchers note.
Even so, the findings add to a growing body of evidence on the fetal
development effects of even low levels of alcohol consumption during
pregnancy, said Heather Carmichael Olson, of the University of
Washington School of Medicine.
“It is a substance that can change fetal development, and can be
associated with lifelong changes in learning and behavior,”
Carmichael Olson, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.
“If any amount of prenatal alcohol exposure can lead to physical
changes in fetal development, as the current study suggests, so that
it’s not just high doses or long-term drinking that have measurable
effects, the safest advice that providers can give is that women who
want a healthy pregnancy should avoid this biological risk factor if
they are considering pregnancy or are pregnant,” Carmichael Olson
added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2rv58kQ JAMA Pediatrics, online June 5, 2017.
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