Drinking a low or moderate level of alcohol in early pregnancy¹ is not linked to developmental problems in five-years-olds, researchers say.

研究人员称，怀孕初期少量或适度饮酒不会对孩子五岁之前的健康问题有影响。

The Danish research, published in the BJOG journal, suggested one to eight drinks a week was not linked to harm.

In Denmark a standard drink has 12g of alcohol, compared with the UK's 7.9g.

UK pregnant women are advised not to drink, but experts say those who do should have no more than one-to-two units, once or twice a week.

Heavy drinking during pregnancy is known to be linked to miscarriage²（流产） , foetal（胎儿的） alcohol syndrome³ and low birth weight.

Binge drinking

The Danish researchers produced five papers on drinking in pregnancy.

Over 1,600 pregnant women took part, recruited at their first antenatal visit. Half were first-time mothers, and just under a third smoked during pregnancy.

They were asked about their alcohol intake⁴.

Low average consumption was defined as one-to-four per week, moderate as five-to-eight drinks and high levels as nine or more per week.

Binge drinking, which women were also questioned about, was defined as having five or more drinks on one occasion. Pregnant women who did not drink during pregnancy were included in the research.

The scientists looked at the effects of alcohol on IQ, attention span, executive functions such as planning, organisation⁵, and self-control in the five-year-olds.

They found low to moderate weekly drinking in early pregnancy had no significant effect on neurodevelopment of children at the age of five - and neither did binge drinking（酗酒） .

There were no differences in IQ test results in children whose mothers drank one-to-four units per week or five-to-eight units per week in pregnancy compared to children of abstaining⁶ mothers.

But drinking more than nine drinks per week was associated with lower attention span amongst the children.