Don't be Fooled with Flawed Research

British Researchers used flawed data to come to conclusion.

Self-reporting of alcohol use by pregnant women is the least scientific method of gathering accurate data. Using this unreliable data to make conclusions such as the British researchers did is poor research, on the verge of being unethical. This type of poor research, done in the name of science, is then taken up by the alcohol industry to promote use of alcohol. Here is the example on Wine Spectacular Hotline

Study OKs Some Wine During Pregnancy
British researchers find no signs of cognitive damage in children whose moms drank one to two glasses a week

The researchers pulled data on 12,495 3-year-old children from the U.K. Millennium Cohort Study, a project following the health and well-being of children born between 2000 and 2002 in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Families were randomly selected from child-benefit rolls (every mother is entitled to a stipend from the government after each birth).

During pregnancy, the women completed questionnaires on alcohol consumption, among other topics. The Millennium researchers then returned to the households three years later and administered a series of cognitive and behavioral tests on the children. For the current research, Kelly and her team separated the results of those tests according to the patterns of drinking in the mothers.


This study shows the unreliability of self-reporting by pregnant women.
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynocology
Volume 198, Issue 4, Pages 407.e1-407.e5 (April 2008)
One hundred three pregnant women were included in the study. The women completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire, and a urine and hair sample was collected. The urine samples were used for determination of ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate and the hair samples for EtG and fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE).

Of the 26 who were found to have positive markers for consumption of alcohol, only three self reported drinking. Of the seven where the markers showed heavy alcohol users, only one self reported drinking and only at a light level.

Another study by the University of Boston of Public Health showed that markers indicating alcohol use in the past month were found in 71% of pregnant women who denied drinking.

I believe the peer reviewers did not do their academic duties when allowing the British study to be published.