Drinking While Pregnant Linked to Rare Leukemia in Children: No Safe Amount of Alcohol

A new study conducted by French scientists from University of Paris Unit of Research on Nutritional Epidemiology suggests there is no safe amount of alcohol for pregnant women. This study suggests that drinking alcohol during pregnancy can increase the risk of rare (AML) acute myeloid signs leukemia in children. The study suggests that the chances of getting fatal AM leukemia increased by more than 50% for children whose mothers drank alcohol while pregnant. Studies that were conducted in the past suggest that are pregnant women as well as those trying to conceive should avoid drinking alcohol in pregnancy in order to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome, and this study conducted by French scientists strengthen this recommendation.

According to the study too many pregnant women still drink: approximately 12% of women in US report they consume alcohol while pregnant, 52% of French women report so and more than 60% of them does from Russia. The numbers are shocking, don't you think? And the ones that are about o follow will shock you even more: Approximately 700 children with of fetal acute myeloid leukemia are born in US every year. Luckily the prognosis for recovery has greatly improved in the last 10 years, but this does not mean these children are survivors: the 5-year survival rate for children up to 14 years of age has now reached about 60 %.

A study that was recently published in Cancer Epidemiology, Markers & Prevention scientists were researching connection between alcohol consumption among pregnant women and two rare cancers: acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. They gathered data from more than 20 studies. With the analysis they have proved that drinking alcohol during pregnancy boosts the risk of acute myeloid leukemia. There is no specific stage of pregnancy: fetus is exposed most in early stages of pregnancy, but it is also vulnerable during all stages of development, which is the main reason researchers do agree there is no safe amount of alcohol for woman during pregnancy.