It is understandably difficult to restrain ourselves from drinking red wine during social events, especially when you are pregnant. You may have heard the notorious effect of alcohol on the baby during pregnancy, but you might also be wondering at times when you could not help not drinking, whether a little sip of red wine still safe for your future bundle of joy.
The General Benefits of Red Wine
It is of popular belief that moderate drinking of red wine gives off health advantages. Red wine is believed to contain several antioxidants such as quercetin and resveratrol, which contribute to prevention and slowing of cell damage caused by harmful molecules called free radicals. Here is the Benefits of Red Wine (#Studies Base)
High activity of free radicals in our body is thought to be the initial step to the development of heart disease, cancer and infertility. Other sources suggest that high antioxidants may maintain the health of the blood vessels, by reducing the amount of bad cholesterol and prevent blood clots that may accumulate in the blood vessels.
Advantage of Red Wine Related to Pregnancy
You might be wondering what are the benefits of red wine in pregnancy? Is it safe or not? During attempts to conceive a child or during pregnancy, drinking red wine may provide benefits listed below.
- Increase the likelihood of conceiving
This benefit is more likely to happen if the drinkers are the male partners. One study revealed that couples were potentially more likely to conceive through in vitro fertilization if the male partner drank alcohol moderately.
- Prevent premature contractions
Red wine is an alcoholic beverage, which means that it contains ethanol. In the early days, ethanol was commonly prescribed to women experiencing preterm labor to stop uterine contractions. Preterm birth is when a baby is born at less than 37 weeks of pregnancy and may result in breathing problems in newborn during birth, and may even cause death. Therefore, consuming red wine may prevent this problem to occur at some level. Thus, better that wine, you must take the Health Benefits of Fish during Pregnancy
- Increase the survival rate of babies in preterm labor
Babies born preterm generally have decreased survival rate due to immature development of vital organs including lungs and the heart. It was thought that prescribing ethanol would decrease the chance of preterm labors, and eventually increase the survival rate of babies.
- Decrease the risk of child’s behavioral issues
A study performed by the University of Copenhagen found that the development of behaviors among 7-year-old children born to mothers who adopted small drinking habits of alcohol during pregnancy was better than mother who abstained from drinking. The outcome is that the children present more well-behaved characteristics.
Another study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health in 2010 revealed that mothers who drank one or two glasses of alcohol per week had children who did not have an increased risk of behavioral problems by age five. If you have been wondering about the benefits of red wine in pregnancy, just check out those proven researches then. Â
- Promote the child’s emotional well being
A study in Denmark reported that mothers who consumed one glass of wine per week during pregnancy had children with greater emotional well being than mothers who did not have any alcoholic drinks. However, this study looked at women who had stable economic lives who had no trouble fulfilling child care.
- Improve the child’s balance performance
A study conducted in the University of Bristol looked into mothers with various drinking habit during pregnancy and found out that higher total alcohol consumption before and after pregnancy was linked to better performance of static balance in their children. This balance is important for children’s milestones such as standing, walking, and learning to ride bicycles. Meanwhile, for better pregnancy, you may just take the Health Benefits of Black Beans During Pregnancy
- Enhance the child’s cognitive development
A study in the UK in 2010 found that children who were born to mother with light drinking during pregnancy scored higher cognitive development tests than those born to mothers with no alcohol exposure. For better pregnancy, you may just take the Health Benefits of Honey to a Pregnant Woman
Though, there are some benefits of red wine in pregnancy, but you need to watch the side effects.
Pregnancy Risks of Drinking Red Wine
While all the potential benefits of red wine in pregnancy have been laid out to you, it is crucial to realize that the harmful effect on babies due to heavy consumption of alcohol during pregnancy have been clearly established. The damage include a group of problems known as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, which manifest in restricted growth, facial deformities, neurological complications, as well as cognitive and behavioral disorders. The cognitive and behavioral issues that may arise are anxiety, hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and attention-deficit disorders. This problem may even persist until adulthood in form of addiction.Â
It is also important to know that during the consumption of red wine, the alcohol substance can seep through the placenta. Meaning that anything which passes through the placenta will most likely enter the baby’s blood stream. As a result, it may affect the fetal development during pregnancy and cause birth defects in form of physical deformities and even mental retardation. In addition, during pregnancy, the baby’s organ has not reached full maturity, including the liver, which in adults has a vital role in getting rid of alcohol. You may guess already that a baby’s immature liver is not able to regulate the high concentration of alcohol In blood.
There has been no evidence found to prove that occasional drinking is perilous to unborn offsprings. This is highly due to the fact that it is not exactly ethical to conduct a clinical study in which one group of pregnant women abstains and the other drinks occasionally.
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The Recommended Intake of Red Wine in Pregnancy
All medical organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Pregnancy Association, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that no amount of alcohol is deemed safe to drink during pregnancy. There have been no studies conducted to determine the amount of alcoholic beverage enough to cause fetal alcohol syndrome. Therefore the universal agreement to this is that no amount of alcohol should be a safer option than casual drinking.
The National Health Services (NHS) in the UK recommends pregnant women to not drink more than one to two units of alcohol once or twice a week. This is equivalent to more or less 150 milliliters of glass of wine. It is found that women who drank up to four units in a week are at risk of having underweight or premature baby.