By Emily Murray

When it comes to health news, it seems that the story changes from time to time.

Naturally when most of us think of pregnancy ‘do-s and don’t-s’ drinking alcohol falls in to the ‘don’t’ category but a recent study has discovered that “moderate” drinking seems to have no ill affect on the baby. Surprised? You are not alone! This goes against what many of us have heard for ages.

So how much is considered “moderate drinking”? According to the study, this means anywhere from 3 to 7 drinks per week.

The study was recently published in BMJ Open and research was collected by self-reports from 7,000 mothers regarding their drinking habits during pregnancy.

Seventy percent of the women in the study reportedly abstained from drinking altogether while 25 said they consumed “low to moderate” amounts. Low was defined as 1 to 2 drinks a week while moderate was between 3 and 7 glasses.

When asked about binge drinking, one out of seven women admitted to having at least 4 glasses of alcohol in one sitting.

To test the effect of alcohol on the development of the children, they were examined at 10 years of age and put through several cognitive tests as well as tests to indicate their ability to balance which can indicated challenges or health from neurodevelopment as a fetus.

The results may surprise you.

It turns out that the children from mothers who drank moderately displayed the ability to balance quite well.

While this was the finding, it should go without saying that doctors are not going to be recommending alcohol for pregnant mothers any time soon! Essentially, the point is that of the women tested who drank moderately, there was no overall trend showing that damage had occurred as a result of three to seven drinks a week during pregnancy.