WASHINGTON (AP) — Drinking during pregnancy can seriously harm a baby's brain, yet thousands of mothers-to-be still do. Now scientists have begun testing whether a prenatal nutrient might offer those babies a little protection, part of a growing quest for ways to reverse the damage.
The only help today: intense behavioral or educational
therapies once children with fetal alcohol-caused disabilities reach
preschool or school age, says new research by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. The agency is spending $1.5 million this year
to start spreading those programs so more youngsters can find care.
Better
would be discovering a way to short-circuit what scientists now know is
a complex chain reaction of toxicity that even moderate drinking during
pregnancy — and especially a binge — can trigger in a baby’s developing
brain.
Don’t misunderstand: This is not a hunt for a pill to
allow women to drink. Even if scientists eventually find a treatment,
one medication could never cover all the ways that alcohol harms.
“There’s
not going to be a single treatment that’s going to be a panacea,”
cautions Dr. Jennifer Thomas of San Diego State University, whose
animal research sparked interest in the nutrient choline, found in such
foods as eggs and liver.
But, “there’s heightened interest now
since despite our best efforts, we haven’t eliminated drinking in
pregnancy and haven’t made a huge dent in it,” adds Dr. Christina
Chambers of the University of California, San Diego. She is overseeing
the first clinical trial — aiming to test 600 pregnant women in Ukraine
— to see if prenatal choline might help.
About 12 percent of U.S.
women drink at least some during pregnancy and 2 percent binge-drink. A
CDC study last month concluded those numbers haven’t substantially
changed since 1991.
With 4 million annual births, that adds up.
Full-blown fetal alcohol syndrome — a combination of brain, facial and
growth abnormalities — is considered a leading preventable cause of
mental retardation. There isn’t a good count, but the CDC estimates
that anywhere from 1,000 to 6,000 U.S. babies a year are born with it.
CDC says at least three times as many have less severe alcohol-related
neurodevelopmental problems, such as learning disabilities and speech
delays.
In parts of the world like Ukraine, fetal alcohol syndrome is far more prevalent.
Chambers
stresses that no one thinks the mom who has a glass of wine the week
before learning she’s pregnant needs to worry. But because doctors
don’t yet know the safe limit, health officials say to abstain during
pregnancy. How much damage alcohol causes depends on how much the
mother consumes, and at what point in gestation.
Nutrition plays
a powerful role in proper development of the brain and nervous system:
Getting enough folate during pregnancy, for example, can prevent spina
bifida and related birth defects. And significant alcohol consumption
interferes with mom’s ability to absorb various nutrients, in turn
affecting whether her fetus gets enough.
So Thomas’ group tested
choline, a precursor to a brain chemical that plays a key role in
learning. She exposed pregnant rats to alcohol during a third-trimester
spurt of brain growth. Giving the mother rats extra choline — or,
importantly, giving newborn pups the nutrient — significantly improved
the pups’ later ability to learn.
On to humans: The study in
Ukraine is recruiting women who acknowledge drinking while pregnant.
They’ll be counseled to stop, and then randomly assigned to take either
a standard Ukrainian vitamin supplement every day, or that vitamin plus
750 milligrams of choline — more than the 450 mg pregnant women are
advised to get from food. About 120 women have been enrolled so far,
and researchers expect preliminary results within a year.
“Whether
you’ll be able to intervene when the woman’s drinking is highly
questionable,” acknowledges Thomas, who says future work may need to
examine newborn treatment.
The choline pathway isn’t the only possible target:
_Northwestern
University researchers gave alcohol to rats in the equivalent of the
second trimester and recorded a stunning alteration in the gene
activity of their pups’ brains — an alteration that in turn led to
markedly lower levels of thyroid hormones in brain regions that control
learning, memory and emotional behaviors. Children with fetal alcohol
disorders also display abnormalities in thyroid hormones, which play a
role in brain development, lead researcher Laura Sittig told a recent
meeting of the nation’s endocrinologists. The question is whether
thyroid hormones might offer a treatment.
_Australian researchers
recently found dietary zinc played a role in protecting fetal mice
exposed to alcohol even earlier in pregnancy.
This is very early
stage science. For already affected children, the CDC advises families
to seek behavioral training specifically targeted to fetal alcohol
disorders — from the math trouble these youngsters frequently have to
the common inability to learn through social experiences.
Check CDC’s
Web site — http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fas/intervening.htm — for a description of proven approaches.
