MADISON, Wis., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Just one or two drinks a day during pregnancy could not only harm the baby but bring on addiction and other serious problems later, a study says.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison say their findings provide even more reason for pregnant women or women who may become pregnant not to consume alcohol.
That warning carries special significance in Wisconsin, where the binge-drinking rate among women is nearly twice the national average, the Wisconsin State Journal said.
The study appeared in Thursday's issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
Fetal alcohol syndrome includes low birth weight, facial deformities, a small head and mental retardation. The syndrome, defined in 1973 and considered the leading preventable cause of mental retardation, is generally associated with heavy alcohol consumption by the mother.
Nationally, one out of 10 pregnant women report alcohol use, 4 percent of them binge drinking, the CDC says.
