Research found that alcohol consumption and smoking during pregnancy can reduce intelligence of the baby

News24xx.com - Alcohol consumption in mothers who are breastfeeding has a negative impact on children. A recent study shows that breast milk which is exposed to alcohol can reduce the intelligence of the child, which is characterized by reduced cognitive abilities of children.

The researchers claim that the study, published in Pediatrics Journal, is the first study linking alcohol exposure through breast milk to cognition in children.

This conclusion was obtained after researchers from Macquire University, Australia, conducted a continuous study since 2004. Researchers analyzed data from 5,107 babies in Australia and examined them within two years to 11 years. The children were examined about understanding vocabulary, nonverbal reasoning, and cognitive processes.

Not only children, the researchers also asked every mother about their alcohol consumption behavior based on a questionnaire from the World Health Organization (WHO). They were also asked about the habit of consuming cigarettes during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

In detail, researchers found an increase in maternal alcohol consumption in line with lower children's nonverbal reasoning scores at the age of 6 and 7. This result is different from children who get breast milk intake from mothers who do not consume alcohol.

Ages 6 and 7 are chosen because researchers consider children at this age have not been much affected by external factors. After that age, many children get education, reducing the influence of alcohol as they get older.

In addition, this study also found that smoker mothers did not give cognition effects on children. This is allegedly because mothers reduce the amount of cigarettes consumed while breastfeeding. On average they smoked 1.06 cigarettes per day compared to 2.84 cigarettes when they did not breastfeed.

 

 

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