More Than Half Of Pregnant French Women Still Drink Alcohol

May 5, 2008 2:27 p.m. EST

Clermont-Ferrand, France (AHN) - Even when pregnant, more than 52 percent of French women still drink alcohol, a new study found. The study also found that the majority of these women don't know that drinking alcohol isn't good for their baby's health.

"Our results surprised us because we didn't think that the women were so massively going to answer that they were so ignorant of the dangers of alcohol during pregnancy," Lead researcher Ingrid de Chazeron of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire told Medical News Today.

The study, which surveyed 837 pregnant women, revealed that 13.7 percent of these women had at least one binge-drinking episode with five or more drinks. De Chazeron added that percentage of U.S. moms-to-be having a drink a day is much less -- about 12 percent.

Alcohol drinking during pregnancy may cause fetal alcohol syndrome -- central nervous system or other damage resulting in physical, mental or behavioral problems. Two of the women in the study gave birth to babies with fetal alcohol syndrome.

The study is published in the May issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.