Women who are pregnant or trying for a baby should stop drinking alcohol altogether, the Government’s leading doctors give warning today. Fiona Adshead, the deputy chief medical officer, said that the change was meant to send “a strong signal” to the thousands of women who drank more than the recommended limit that they were putting their babies at risk. She suggested that bottles of beer, wines and spirits should carry the new warning that pregnant women give up drinking. However, it emerged yesterday that the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists intended to stick with its advice that moderate drinking was perfectly safe, which could leave many pregnant women confused. Previously, midwives regularly told pregnant women to drink up to eight units a week, and even recommended Guinness to prevent anaemia. read more

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Researchers from the Netherlands and Scotland have found that eating apples throughout pregnancy may protect against wheezing and asthma in 5-year-old children, while fish consumption may lower the risk of eczema, an allergic skin condition. The study found that children of women who ate more apples and fish during their pregnancy were less likely to develop asthma or allergic disease. Specifically, children of women who ate fish once or more a week were 43 percent less likely to have had eczema at age 5 than children of mothers who never ate fish. Those whose mothers ate more than four apples a week during pregnancy were 37 percent less likely to have ever wheezed, 46 percent less likely to have had asthma symptoms, and 53 percent less likely to have had doctor-confirmed asthma compared to children of mothers who ate one or no apples a week. Litonjua, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, said this study adds to the growing literature that prenatal factors, specifically maternal diet during pregnancy, can affect the development of wheezing illnesses, asthma and allergies in young children. read more

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THURSDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) — Women at high risk for the pregnancy complication preeclampsia can lower their odds by 10 percent by taking daily aspirin, a new study suggests. Although the benefits of antiplatelet therapy such as daily aspirin are modest, they are important if given to women at risk of preeclampsia, Askie said. In the study, Askie and colleagues in the Perinatal Antiplatelet Review of International Studies (PARIS) group looked at the results of 31 preeclampsia prevention trials that included almost 33,000 women and their babies. The researchers found the risks of developing preeclampsia dropped 10 percent among women taking aspirin or other antiplatelet medications. Women who are at the highest risk for preeclampsia are those who have high blood pressure and have also suffered preeclampsia in previous pregnancies. Women at risk because of high blood pressure, pre-pregnancy diabetes or preeclampsia in one previous pregnancy have about a 20 percent risk of developing preeclampsia, Roberts noted. read more

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