Just four glasses of wine during pregnancy can affect your family – for generations

Drinking alcohol during pregnancy has been a hotly-debated issue for some time now.

But many are still not convinced about the effects it may have on unborn children.

However, a new study testing lab rats has provided new information about how not just one generation, but up to three might suffer from consumption of alcohol during pregnancy.

Led by Nicole Cameron of Binghamton University, the study tested if drinking while pregnant was linked to a heightened risk of children developing alcoholism.

“Our findings show that in the rat, when a mother consumes the equivalent of one glass of wine four times during the pregnancy, her offspring and grand-offspring, up to the third generation, show increased alcohol preference and less sensitivity to alcohol,” Cameron reported. “Thus, the offspring are more likely to develop alcoholism.”

Previous studies have shown that prenatal exposure to alcohol is a leading and preventable cause of birth defects and disabilities in first-generation children, but none have extended this effects to later generations to date.

SHARE if you’ll think twice about having a glass of wine during pregnancy.