Pregnant women told not to drink alcohol
Women are now being told that they shouldn’t drink any alcohol during pregnancy despite no new evidence that a small amount is harmful.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which is responsible for providing guidance on the promotion of good health, issued new guidelines today saying that pregnant women should avoid drinking alcohol, especially during the first three months because there may be an increased risk of miscarriage. If women choose to drink, then they are advised to drink no more than 1-2 UK units once or twice a week.
This brings NICE’s guidelines in line with Department of Health advice, but is confusing for women who were told last year that it was ok to drink a small glass of wine a day while pregnant.
Dr Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive of NICE, said that the aim of the change was to make things simpler, but she admitted that, ‘Clinical evidence is fairly weak’.
Currently, no studies are being planned that could provide useful evidence, although NICE has made recommendations for a study.