Moderate drinking in early pregnancy branded 'safe

The Danish research, published in the BJOG journal, suggested one to eight drinks a week was not linked to harm.

In Denmark a standard drink has 12g of alcohol, compared with the UK's 7.9g.

UK pregnant women are advised not to drink, but experts say those who do should have no more than one or two units, once or twice a week.

Heavy drinking during pregnancy is known to be linked to miscarriage, foetal alcohol syndrome and low birth weight.

Binge drinking

The Danish researchers produced five papers on drinking in pregnancy.

More than 1,600 pregnant women took part, recruited at their first antenatal visit. Half were first-time mothers, and just under a third smoked during pregnancy.

They were asked about their alcohol intake.

Low average consumption was defined as one to four per week, moderate as five to eight drinks and high levels as nine or more per week.

This evidence suggests that the UK guidance is erring on the side of caution - but that's sensible in pregnancy"

Patrick O'Brien,RCOG

Binge drinking, which women were also questioned about, was defined as having five or more drinks on one occasion. Pregnant women who did not drink during pregnancy were included in the research.

The scientists looked at the effects of alcohol on IQ, attention span, executive functions such as planning, organisation, and self-control in the five-year-olds.

They found low to moderate weekly drinking in early pregnancy had no significant effect on neurodevelopment of children at the age of five - and neither did binge drinking.

There were no differences in IQ test results in children whose mothers drank one to four units per week or five to eight units per week in pregnancy compared with children of abstaining mothers.

But drinking more than nine drinks per week was associated with lower attention span among the children.

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