Drinking alcohol even at conception might damage placenta development

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-06/tcob-dae060319.php

News Release 10-Jun-2019
The Company of Biologists

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy has been linked to poor growth of the placenta, causing conditions such as fetal growth restriction and low birth weight. Although most women cease drinking once they know they are pregnant, the effect of alcohol during the initial stages of pregnancy, even as early as around the time of conception, is less well understood. Now, Dr Jacinta Kalisch-Smith together with Professor Karen Moritz at the University of Queensland in Australia have investigated the impact of alcohol consumption on the placenta early in pregnancy. They show that the growth of the placentas of rats that consumed alcohol around the time of conception was reduced significantly, providing new evidence for how pregnancy-related conditions develop. This research has just been published in the scientific journal Development at http://dev.biologists.org.

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