'No drink best' for pregnant women

New national nutrition guidelines recommend total abstinence from alcohol by pregnant women.

Previous guidelines said alcohol was not recommended during pregnancy.

"There is no known safe level of alcohol consumption at any stage during pregnancy," Ministry of Health spokeswoman Ashley Bloomfield said.

"It is best that women avoid drinking alcohol at all during pregnancy."

In a 177-page technical paper released yesterday, the ministry said babies born to mothers who had as little as one drink a week during pregnancy could show altered behaviours, and those whose mothers had one alcoholic drink a day may have reduced cognitive skills.

While it was well-known that babies from women who drank heavily at critical periods of foetal development could suffer from foetal alcohol syndrome, with facial deformities and retarded growth and brain development, it was now recognised there was a wide set of effects from lower-level alcohol use.

Babies exposed to any alcohol while in the womb could suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity, an inability to foresee consequences or to learn from previous experience, lack of organisation, learning difficulties, poor abstract thinking, adaptability, impulse control, judgment, speech and other communication problems.

The report emphasised the importance of vegetables, fruit, wholegrain breads and cereals, and food sources of iodine in the diet of pregnant and breast-feeding women.

The ministry and the Food Safety Authority also recommended that all women planning a pregnancy take a 0.8mg folic acid tablet each day for at least four weeks before and 12 weeks after conception to reduce the risk of their baby suffering neural tube defect deformities such as spina bifida.

The tablets should be in addition to eating folate-rich foods including leafy green vegetables, citrus fruit, wholegrain breads, legumes, and foods fortified with folic acid such as breakfast cereals and juice.

The ministry said mandatory fortification of food with iodine was also being considered.

New Zealand has a very low level of iodine in its soil in some regions and goitre problems - thyroid enlargement - occurs with an intake of less than 50 micrograms of iodine aday.

Cretinism is seen in the babies of pregnant women who receive less than 30 micrograms a day.

- NZPA