The National Addiction and Doping Center of the Istituto Superiore di Sanit has been carrying out the slogan Zero alcohol in pregnancy since 2012 to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome and related disorders
Refrain from alcohol in pregnancy and when you want to have a baby. the watchword of the experts and the Higher Institute of Health (Iss) addressed to future mothers.
Alcohol in the placenta
The use of alcohol in the nine months of gestation exposes the fetus to the risk of permanent and irreversible damage, recalls Simona Pichini, director of the pharmacotoxicology unit of the national addiction and doping center of the ISS, who since 2012 has been pursuing the slogan Zero alcohol in pregnancy to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome and related disorders, of which giornata worldwide on 9 September of each year. The negative effects on the health of the fetus and baby in the long term can be avoided one hundred percent by not consuming alcoholic beverages during pregnancy, Pichini points out. There are no doses deemed safe or risk-free. Alcohol always passes through the placenta, regardless of gestational time, amount consumed or type of drink, and even an occasional and moderate consumption it can have permanent and irreversible consequences on the unborn child due to the embryotoxic and teratogenic action of ethanol says Luigi Orfeo, director of the complex operating unit of pediatrics, neonatology and neonatal intensive care of the Fatebenfratelli-Isola Tiberina hospital in Rome and president of the Society Italian of Neonatology (Sin), which supports the campaign The fetus is unable to metabolize alcohol, because it lacks the necessary enzymes and therefore even a small amount affects health. Therefore the fetal alcoholemia comparable to the maternal alcoholemia: when the mother drinks, the baby drinks.
Breastfeeding and problems
Even while breastfeeding toxic alcohol. Pass in the milk through the mammary glands and the baby, not having the enzymes to digest it, absorbs it completely, warns Orpheus. The most serious consequence of prenatal exposure to maternal alcohol is fetal alcohol syndromecharacterized by alterations of the central nervous system, growth retardation and facial dysmorphism. Affected children are born underweight and microcephalic, maintain an under-normal weight and height as they grow, develop cognitive impairment associated with attention, memory and behavioral disorders, such as anxiety, aggression and anger, and have facial abnormalities , like a thin upper lip and round, set eyes, explains Pichini. While other fetal alcohol spectrum disorders may relate to one or more of these symptoms it clears up.
Better data but average age that is lower
Drinking alcohol in pregnancy also increases the risk of miscarriage and premature birth. In the world about 10% of pregnant women consume alcohol and the prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome and related disorders of almost 15 cases per 10 thousand births. In 2019, the Ministry of Health funded the first project to estimate at a national level the real consumption of alcohol in pregnancy by analyzing ethylglucuronide (one of the most specific metabolic products of ethyl alcohol), in maternal hair and in the first stool. of the newborn. Preliminary data shows that less than 1% of newborns been exposed to alcohol in utero – says Pichini, scientific coordinator of the project -. In a smaller 2011 study conducted by the ISS, the prevalence estimate was 7.9%. The information made evidently in recent years served for something. Drinking alcohol while pregnant is a danger of which you are not always sufficiently aware. Unfortunately, there is an erroneous tendency to believe, both among the population and among health professionals, that one-off consumption, even in very small doses, is not a real problem – observes Orpheus -. The habit of drinking often continues even in the very early stages of gestation when you do not yet know you are pregnant or are waiting to take the assessment test. In conclusion, Pichini insists that the awareness campaign must continue, even more so considering that today the consumption of alcohol among young women, even minors, who drink as much as their male peers, is growing rapidly.
September 9, 2022 (change September 9, 2022 | 09:22)
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