Even low levels of alcohol in the perinatal period affect the development of the brain of the child, and the effects are noticeable in adulthood.
Prolonged exposure to alcohol during fetal development often leads to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which is characterized by growth deficiency, cognitive dysfunction, and facial structure abnormalities.
Children exposed to high levels of alcohol during prenatal development also typically show a reduction in total brain volume and certain areas of the brain. But the effects of exposure to low or moderate levels of alcohol have not been studied.
Malcolm Avison, a professor of radiology and radiological sciences at Vanderbilt University, together with other scientists for almost two decades, studied the brain of young adults whose mothers used low or moderate doses of alcohol during pregnancy, exposing the fetus to perinatal exposure to alcohol.
The participants in the experiment were selected at the stage of intrauterine development and were observed from birth to 19 years. Scientists observed how low doses of alcohol affected the gray and white matter of the brain, comparing this group of participants with the control group.
No differences were found in the total brain volume or the total volume of gray or white matter. However, the volume of gray matter was lower in individuals affected by intrauterine exposure to alcohol. Changes affected such areas of the brain as the left cingulate gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and right caudate nucleus. It is noteworthy that the level of loss of gray matter depended on the amount of alcohol consumed by the mother: more alcohol - more significant losses.
