Alcohol has always been present in human life, and currently it is estimated that 50% of women of childbearing age consume alcohol. It has become increasingly clear over the last years that alcohol exposure during fetal development can have detrimental effects on various organ systems, and these effects are exerted by alcohol through multiple means, including effects on free radical formation, ...

Background: Alcohol is a potent teratogen and alcohol use in pregnancy and the periconception period can cause many complications in mother, fetus and neonate.  Discussion: Alcohol in the mother's blood passes through the placenta to the baby through the umbilical cord. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, and a range of lifelong disorders. Alcohol-related birth ...

Prenatal exposure to alcohol can damage the developing fetus and is the leading preventable cause of birth defects and intellectual and neurodevelopmental disabilities. In 1973, fetal alcohol syndrome was first described as a specific cluster of birth defects resulting from alcohol exposure in utero. Subsequently, research unequivocally revealed that prenatal alcohol exposure causes a broad ran...

Most children with in utero alcohol exposure do not exhibit all features of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), and a challenge for clinicians is to make an early diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) to avoid lost opportunities for care. In brain, correct neurodevelopment requires proper angiogenesis. Since alcohol alters brain angiogenesis and the placenta is a major source of angiog...

Maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy can cause serious birth defects, of which fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is the most devastating. Recognizable by characteristic craniofacial abnormalities and growth deficiency, this condition includes severe alcohol-induced damage to the developing brain. FAS children experience deficits in intellectual functioning; difficulties in learning, memory,...

In 1994 Alcohol Health & Research World (now titled Alcohol Research & Health) last devoted a full issue to the topic of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and other alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD). This introductory article provides readers with information on how the field has advanced since then. In addition to tracing the development of the terminology used in the field, it describes the dif...

Maternal consumption of alcohol (ethanol) can result in a range of alcohol-induced developmental defects. In humans [5], those collective birth defects [6] are called Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, with the most severe manifestation being Fetal Alcohol Syndrome [7] (FAS). FAS is defined by preand post-natal growth retardation [8], minor facial abnormalities, and deficiencies in the central n...

Maternal consumption of alcohol (ethanol) can result in a range of alcohol-induced developmental defects. In humans [5], those collective birth defects [6] are called Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, with the most severe manifestation being Fetal Alcohol Syndrome [7] (FAS). FAS is defined by preand post-natal growth retardation [8], minor facial abnormalities, and deficiencies in the central n...

ÐThe diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) was invented in 1973. This paper investigates the process by which a cluster of birth defects associated with exposure to alcohol in utero came to be a distinct medical diagnosis, focusing on the ®rst ten years of the medical literature on FAS. Fetal alcohol syndrome was ``discovered'' by a group of American dysmorphologists who published the ®rst ...