pencil low level equals seven or fewer.
The Australian guidelines are for no alcohol during pregnancy, I'm surprised that the UK is otherwise. FAS is becoming a big thing here though.
I can't see how the guidelines can be otherwise. If it's accepted that alcohol is teratogenic and that there's a dose-response effect then threads like this always have the dissenters saying that :
Sure, y level of consumption is loads but x level is ok, and there's no evidence that x is harmful.
X is usually a few drinks a week, or whatever the dissenter drinks/has drunk during pregnancy.
But if you're writing guideline you need to consider all of the other factors that are related to x such as the pregnant woman's size, her ability to metabolise alcohol, whether she's eaten etc. Bearing in mind as well that a fetus receives close to 100% of the ingested alcohol and then has delayed clearance of it as it hangs around in amniotic fluid.
And then you look at fetal issues. Sure, a fetus likely to have normal cognitive ability, normal executive function and normal impulse control is less likely to be affected by low level exposure, but one fated to have ADHD and/or learning problems is at greater risk.
sunglass I don't personally feel that learning about how a fetus metabolises alcohol is controlling, but each to their own, I suppose.