Men who drink alcohol while looking for a child have 35% risk of birth defects

Recent research by Chinese scientists has warned that men who drink alcohol while trying to have a baby, even once a week, are more than a third more likely to be born with birth defects.

To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed the pre-conception and childbirth consumption habits of more than 500,000 couples in China.

For mothers, only 3% drank alcohol in the six months before conception, which allowed the team to focus on the impact of alcohol consumption on men. The full results of the study have been published in the scientific journal. Pediatrics JAMA.

In western countries, up to 30 percent of women are estimated to drink alcohol before or during pregnancy, which makes it difficult to assess the effect of parents who drink.

This is how the team discovered that Parental alcohol consumption not only increases the risk of birth defects in general, but it also increases it also increases the risk of laporin lip by 55 percent.

the cleft lip and palate occurs when parts of the face do not fuse together properly during fetal development and they are observed in 1 in 700 births in the world and in Argentina, the estimated rate is 1.4 per 1,000 live births.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence that the lifestyles of fathers, and not just mothers, have the potential to affect the growth of fetuses in the womb.

“It is strongly recommended that women stop consuming alcohol before and during pregnancy“Said the author of the article and the gynecologist Xiaotian Li from Fudan University in Shanghai in eastern China. And he added that “the effects of alcohol consumption while trying to conceive parents have hardly been considered, until now“.

“Our discovery suggests that Intended parents should be encouraged to change their alcohol consumption before conceiving to reduce the risk of fetal complications.Professor Li added, adding, “Paternal exposure to alcohol biologically increases the risk of semen abnormalities. “

In their study, Professor Li and colleagues analyzed data on pregnancy outcome 529,090 couples who lived in China and their alcohol consumption in the six months prior to conception.

Men drank at least once a week during this period in 31.2% of couples, while only 3.3 percent of women did the same.

Parents reported 609 children with birth defects within six weeks of giving birth.

The researchers’ analysis found that after other factors were taken into account, children were 35% more likely to have a birth defect if their father drank once a week or more in the six months before conception.

Additionally, the team found that the chances of cleft lip and palate specifically increased by 55% in children of parents who have been drinking while trying to have a baby with their partner.

“This study aimed to investigate the association between parental alcohol consumption before pregnancy and birth defects to provide evidence to support stopping alcohol in pre-conception health care.” “, Analyzed Professor Li.

It is information that provides evidence for clinical recommendation and the development of public health strategies to improve the quality of life of the offspring.

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