Drinking alcohol while pregnant can be a risky gamble. Unfortunately, it’s one that more Americans are taking, recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. CDC scientists looked at the latest data from a nationally representative survey of Americans. They found that one in every seven pregnant women reported drinking in the past month—an increase from past years—while some women are still binge drinking or heavily drinking while pregnant. The findings underscore “the ongoing need for comprehensive strategies to reduce alcohol consumption during pregnancy,” they wrote in their report. No safe amount Though there is some debate over the relative harms and benefits of light drinking for the average person, the same really can’t be said for drinking while pregnant. Major health organizations like the CDC widely agree that there’s no known safe amount of alcohol use during pregnancy. Alcohol can easily reach the fetus and negatively affect its development, raising the risk of miscarriage, premature birth, or developmental disorders; these risks increase the more someone regularly drinks.
Since the 1980s, the CDC has kept track of certain health trends and habits, including alcohol drinking, via the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), which regularly polls a nationally representative sample of Americans across the country.
