Although it is known that the pregnant woman should not consume alcohol, we can still hear that for a drink, nothing will happen.
This is misinformation since it is proven that drinking alcohol during pregnancy severely affects the brain and nervous system of the fetus, causing sequelae that will last a lifetime.
Alcohol crosses the placental barrier with great ease. In just one hour, the fetus will have the same amount of alcohol in the blood as the mother. But, unlike this one, it will take much longer to metabolize it since, unlike its mother, its liver is still immature.
It has not been possible to establish a safe level of consumption, any amount of alcohol, even minimal, can affect the health of the fetus, so it is recommended that zero consumption.
You even have to have beware of beers without because they can contain up to 1% alcohol.
In Spain, 40% of pregnant women consume alcohol during the first trimester of pregnancy and 17% continue to drink it during the last trimester.
Consequences of consumption
Alcohol consumption during management is the cause of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. A large number of physical, mental, cognitive and behavioral abnormalities are grouped under this term.
The most severe degree of affection is fetal alcohol syndrome. This syndrome causes morphological alterations, especially craniofacial defects. Affected babies usually have microcephaly at birth, have characteristic features such as small eyes, thin upper lip, flattening of the space between the nose and the upper lip.
It also causes growth retardation, alterations of the central nervous system that are manifested in cognitive, learning, behavioral, and socialization alterations. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the leading cause of mental retardation in Europe. He is also behind many cases of school failure.
It is estimated that in the Spanish state, of every thousand born, two have fetal alcohol syndrome although the total number of children affected is much higher due to international adoptions of children originating from Eastern countries. In these countries, alcohol consumption during pregnancy is normalized, in addition to not having as much information about the consequences of this consumption.
In Spain there are associations of families affected by fetal alcohol syndrome whose objectives are to improve the lives of affected people and their families, in addition to obtaining social recognition of the syndrome because it continues to be an undervalued problem. Two of these associations are AFASAF y SAFGroup.