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" Drinking even moderate amounts of alcohol during pregnancy could affect a child&amp;#039;s IQ, experts have claimed. Researchers at the universities of Bristol and Oxford looked at data on more than 4,000 mothers and their children, all of whom had taken part in the Children of the 90s study. They identified four genetic variants in alcohol-metabolising genes that were strongly related to lower IQ among eight-year-old children. However, the link was only seen among children whose mothers drank moderately (one to six units of alcohol per week) during pregnancy, with no such effect seen in children whose mothers abstained. The finding, which is published in the journal PLoS One, suggests that exposure to even small amounts of alcohol in the womb may lower children&amp;#039;s IQ by around two points for each of the four genetic variants they possess. Lead researcher Dr Ron Gray, from the University of Oxford, said: &amp;#039;This is a complex study but the message is simple: even moderate amounts of alcohol during pregnancy can have an effect on future child intelligence.&amp;#039; Dr Simon Newell, from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, commented that drinking even small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy can harm the unborn child. He advised: &amp;#039;It is impossible to say what constitutes a &amp;#039;safe&amp;#039; amount of alcohol a mother can drink, as every pregnancy is different, so our advice to mothers is don&amp;#039;t take a chance with your baby&amp;#039;s health - drink no alcohol at all.&amp;#039; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a23155/moderate-drinking-in-pregnancy-may-affect-iq/>