Of course everyone knows that alcohol and pregnancy are incompatible. However, on this occasion, there are many questions from moms. What are the recommendations for the use of alcohol during pregnancy give doctors? Find out what experiments and studies conducted by scientists on this issue and they have come to some conclusions.
Pregnant lot of questions about what you can drink of alcohol during pregnancy, on what terms it is possible to drink a little red wine as alcohol can affect fetal development, if the day of conception one of the spouses drank alcohol, etc. On this occasion, on the site of the famous Dr. E. Komarovsky has an article Bereza E. P. interesting research and conclusions. Perhaps in this article you will find answers to your questions.
Yes, the theme is "Pregnancy and alcohol", it seems, revealed fully. In a popular source not glance, everywhere write that alcohol is harmful. Many have heard of innate or fetal alcohol syndrome. I remember the pictures in textbooks children with congenital alcohol syndrome, although in real life never met a child, and an adult, too, with this syndrome. Perhaps, pediatricians often see these children.
Alcohol is considered a teratogen, ie it may cause birth defects, damage embryos also affect chromosomal and genetic material. The frequency of 0.2-2 cases per 1,000 live births. Apart from this syndrome, there are still a number of developmental disorders from the group of so-called fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. In total, for example, in the US and 1% of newborns have congenital abnormalities associated with alcohol intake during pregnancy. Up to 30% of American women drink alcohol during pregnancy, at least occasionally.
However, when I worked on the book "progesterone nation", I was interested in the effects of alcohol on progesterone levels, including during pregnancy. And it turned out that the study of the effects of alcohol on pregnancy has never been conducted. That's right! It has not been in force inhumanity of such research. All conclusions about the dangers of alcohol were made due to pregnancy and childbirth in women taking alcohol. But not all women taking alcohol, there are birth defects and other problems. In fact, the findings were made in 1968 on the basis of observations of 11 women suffering from alcoholism. A little later, they confirmed the observations of doctors in several European countries and the United States.
In a retreat, share pictures of the new book:
"Studies on the effect of alcohol on ovulation, hormone levels and conception has been studied in several countries. Studies have shown that moderate alcohol consumption (100 mL per week) significantly reduced the level of conception of the child, as well as increase the risk of endometriosis.
Observation of healthy couples who have tried to conceive a first child within six months, showed that receiving 100 g of alcohol per week lowers successful conception doubled compared with the reception of 10- 50 g alcohol.
Comparative analysis of the influence of smoking, alcohol, and a combination of smoking and drinking alcohol also showed some interesting results. conceptions levels in women who do not use alcohol and not smoking, was a little more than 24% per month, in smokers, but not take alcohol - almost 22%. Alcohol intake, independent of smoking is a major factor that significantly reduces a woman's fertility. Studies have shown that the fertility rate in the study group of women who had ovulatory cycles, when taking more than 90 grams of alcohol is about 11% per week per month. Drinking alcohol in this study was short - from 14 to 21 day cycle when the probability of conception and implantation of the highest. But the influence of alcohol was evident.
Other researchers have studied the effect of alcohol intake over a longer period of time (up to 10 years). Permanent alcohol intake, especially in moderate quantities, exacerbates the problems with infertility, increasing the frequency of anovulatory cycles.
The disadvantage of all of the research is that the amount of alcohol expressed in different units (grams, milliliters), drinks were also different, as well as the duration of intake of alcohol. In a number of countries, where alcoholic beverages are part of the traditional diet (Italy, Spain, France) the relationship between periodic or moderate alcohol intake and the level of fertility is not observed.
Determining the influence of alcohol on estrogen levels, androgens, gonadotropins was performed as in menstruating women and postmenopausal women, taking into account the dose of alcohol - acute or chronic intoxication alcoholism.
Drinking large amounts of alcohol leads to a significant increase in the level of estradiol in the plasma, which can be explained the influence of alcohol at the opioid receptors of the hypothalamus that stimulate the production of LH, FSH and prolactin by the pituitary gland. The biggest impact is noted alcohol pre-ovulatory period (end of the first phase of the menstrual cycle) and early implantation (second half of the second phase). Such an effect is explained by the fact that alcohol impairs the proportion of liver enzymes needed to metabolism of estradiol to estrone, as too are necessary enzymes (enzymes) to neutralize the alcohol liver. Thus, the plasma is larger amount of estradiol is not transmitted decay process in the liver.
The different phases (day cycle) with regular admission of alcohol observed increase in various female sex hormones (estradiol, estrone, estriol) both in plasma and in the urine of women. What is clear is that the increase in the active form of estradiol observed before ovulation in all women who use alcohol regularly and in moderation. At lower doses of alcohol in many women, by contrast, it noted a decrease in estradiol levels.
In postmenopausal women, alcohol increases estrogen levels even higher than that of women of reproductive age.
Alcohol consumption increases not only the level of estrogen in the blood of women, but also a number of male sex hormones. Despite the fact that the explanation for these fluctuations in hormone has (and is associated with the work of the liver and the effect of alcohol on the hypothalamic-pituitary system), but practicing physicians are more interested in the question of alcohol with hormonal therapy interaction, in particular hormone replacement therapy and hormonal contraceptives.
Alcohol significantly increases the level of estrogen using a hormonal contraceptive and hormone replacement therapy, but even at high levels of female sex hormones exogenous origin their assimilation can be disrupted, as the rate of excretion from the body, which may increase side effects such relative "Hyperestrogenia".
Several studies have shown that alcohol intake has no effect on the level of progesterone in the follicular phase, and in the mid-luteal phase, although in theory It assumed that disrupting the proportion of the enzymes involved in the synthesis and decay of progesterone conversion of pregnenolone to progesterone process must be broken too.
The effects of alcohol on the level of progesterone in the early stages of pregnancy in pregnant women is not I held (and it would be unethical to conduct such experiments on pregnant women, knowing teratogenic alcohol). However, in non-pregnant women to build a state of false pregnancy, including the introduction of hCG on certain days, when in normal pregnancy, this hormone appears in the blood of women. It turned out that alcohol lowers levels of progesterone in these women. Therefore, there is an assumption that alcohol can interfere with the normal implantation of the ovum.
Other studies on women taking oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy It confirmed the fact that the level of progesterone in the blood of these women in making alcohol decreases, besides, much.
There were also experiments in the laboratory to study the influence of alcohol on the cells of the placenta and its ability to synthesize progesterone. It turned out that alcohol prevents the entry of cholesterol molecules in the cells of the placenta, from which then formed progesterone. The amount of alcohol, which causes such changes, it is equivalent to 0.10-0.20% of alcohol in blood (1.5-3 wine glass or 110-230 ml of vodka).
Given the fact that all conclusions about the dangers of alcohol are based on pregnancy outcomes of observations in women suffering from alcoholism, the data on safe minimum dose of alcohol does not exist. Interestingly, in those countries where alcoholic beverages are part of the traditional cuisine, the level of defects, like congenital fetal alcohol syndrome, is not higher than the average population levels.
In addition to the teratogenic effects of alcohol, we know absolutely nothing about the effects of alcohol on the fetus and the course of pregnancy, including the one-time admission, chronic reception taking small doses, large doses of different types of drinks, etc. You can not compare pregnancy in alcoholic women with pregnancy, when alcohol is taken in small doses and occasionally. After all, women who suffer from alcoholism, have a lot of other negative factors affecting the course of pregnancy (bad nutrition and malnutrition, living in unsanitary conditions, different types of abuse and violence, and other bad habits etc.). "
Can alcohol intake lead to placental abruption? If a woman did not have acute alcohol intoxication, it is unlikely between drunk drink and bleeding might be related. Probably just a coincidence, accompanied by emotional stress.
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