THURSDAY, May 13, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- There is no link between alcohol consumption during pregnancy and childhood asthma, claims a study in the May issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
Researchers at the Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research gathered data on 10,440 infants born between 1984 and 1987 in Denmark.
They found children whose mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy did not have a greater risk of hospitalization for asthma compared with children of mothers who did not drink.
Dr. Wei Yuan cautioned that the findings should not be interpreted to say that alcohol is safe to drink during pregnancy.
"Maternal alcohol intake has many public and health concerns other than asthma," Yuan said. "In addition, the timing of alcohol exposure and its subsequent effects on fetal growth remain an essential topic of research."
More information
The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has more about the fetal alcohol syndrome.
