How Drinking as a Parent Could Have a Massive Effect on Unborn Children

Veuer

A new study published in Aging and Disease suggests that the effects of parental alcohol use on unborn children may be more far-reaching than previously known. Veuer’s Matt Hoffman has the story.

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00:00The effects of parental alcohol use on unborn children may be more far-reaching than previously

00:05known. That's according to a new study published in Aging and Disease. Co-author Michael C. Golding

00:10writes in The Conversation that his team allowed mice access to alcohol and studied its effects on

00:15their offspring. The researchers found that the mouse pups were more likely to suffer subsequent

00:19health issues when their parents drank, both parents, not just the mother. Golding tells the

00:24BBC that prior reproduction research, quote, has been so woman-focused, so maternal-centric that

00:30we've not really done our due diligence on the male side. The team also found that parental drinking

00:35harmed the mitochondria in the offspring's cells, causing them to age faster throughout their lives.

00:40Of course, it's not clear if alcohol use has the same effect in humans, and Golding says further

00:45research would have to be done to see if these effects show up in the children of moderate drinkers

00:49as opposed to heavier users. But this could be a reason for expecting moms and dads to

00:54lay off the drinks.

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