Alcohol In Breast Milk May Lead To Lower Cognition In Kids, Study Finds

(CBS Local/CNN)– Children’s exposure to alcohol through breast milk may cause a comparable drop in their cognitive abilities, according to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. “This is the first study in which associations between alcohol exposure through breast milk and cognition in children are examined,” the researchers from Macquarie University in Australia wrote in the report. Previously Undisclosed TSA Program Tracks Unsuspecting Passengers The authors obtained data from a longitudinal study, a continuous study of data over a period of time, of 5,107 Australian infants who were recruited in 2004 and evaluated every two years until age 11. Their mothers were asked about their alcohol consumption from a modified questionnaire used by the World Health Organization. They were also asked about daily cigarette smoking during pregnancy and breastfeeding. The children were quizzed on their vocabulary, nonverbal reasoning and cognitive processes. The researchers also found that an increased maternal consumption of alcohol aligned with lower nonverbal reasoning scores in 6- and 7-year-olds who had breastfed. The same was not found in those who had never breastfed after adjusting for factors such as prenatal alcohol consumption, gender, child and maternal age, breastfeeding duration and birth weight. This lowered cognitive ability was not maintained when the children were assessed at 10 and 11 years old, the authors discovered. “If you...
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