Not only should women stop drinking one year before becoming pregnant, but men should stop drinking six months before a baby is conceived, according to a new study from Central South University, Changsha, China. The study was published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
It wasn’t original research, but rather a review of other studies. Compared to non-drinking fathers, children born to fathers who drank in the three months before conception were 44% more likely to have babies with congenital heart disease. The research doesn’t establish causation but rather an association.
“Binge drinking by would-be parents is a high risk and dangerous behavior that not only may increase the chance of their baby being born with a heart defect, but also greatly damages their own health,” study author Jiabi Qin, of CSU’s Xiangya School of Public Health