Alcohol consumption during pregnancy may lead to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. The timing of alcohol consumption, its frequency, the beverage size and type, all appear to be crucial elements of identifying risk. A new survey has found that nearly 80% of non-Indigenous West Australian women consumed alcohol during the three months before pregnancy, nearly half had not planned their pregnancies and more than half drank alcohol during pregnancy despite recommendations of abstinence. Lyn Colvin, a researcher at the Telethon Institute asserted, ‘there is a lack of information as it relates to the measurement of alcohol consumption during the periconceptional period of pregnancy.’ The National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia’s peak health research organization recommends that pregnant women should never become intoxicated and should consider not drinking alcohol at all. The World Health Organization too has advised pregnant women not to drink alcohol. Thus, it is important that all women of childbearing age are aware, well before they consider pregnancy, of the risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy so they can make informed decisions about their alcohol consumption in pregnancy.
