ATLANTA One in 10 expectant mothers aged 18 to 44 drink alcohol during their pregnancies, and many of them binge-drink, a study released on Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. 
 
 A third of the pregnant women who drank reported consuming four or more drinks in rapid succession, known as "binge drinking," according to the study based on a telephone survey. (1.usa.gov/1NWERS6) 
 
 The frequency of the binge drinking was higher in pregnant women than among those who were not pregnant, surprising the study's lead author, Cheryl Tan. 
 
 "Any alcohol use during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of birth defects and developmental disabilities," she told Reuters. 
 
 One possible explanation is that women who binge-drink during pregnancy are more likely to have alcohol addiction issues, the study noted. 
 
 Alcohol use during pregnancy was highest among women aged 35 to 44, with 18.6 percent reporting that they had consumed at least one alcoholic beverage in the previous 30 days, researchers found. 
 
 The study compared telephone survey data from 8,333 pregnant women and 198,000 non-pregnant women from all 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2011-2013. About half of the non-pregnant women surveyed said they drank alcohol. 
 
 Women were surveyed over land line telephones and cell phones, making the findings difficult to compare to earlier studies involving only land lines, Tan added. 
 
 College graduates were twice as likely to drink during pregnancy as non-graduates, the study found, possibly because of higher discretionary income or because alcohol consumption was considered "socially acceptable" during their college years. 
 
 Non-married pregnant women were 4.6 times more likely to binge drink than married pregnant women, the study found. 
 
 The study should be a call to action for pregnant women, who often receive "mixed messages" in the media about whether it is safe to drink during pregnancy, Tan said. 
 
 She called for doctors to screen pregnant women for alcohol use and try to persuade them to stop drinking. 
 
 "It's really important to remember that there is no safe amount, no safe time and no safe type of alcohol to drink during pregnancy," she said. 
 
 (Editing by Letitia Stein and Eric Walsh) ||||| Women worried by guidance advising abstinence should be told there is little evidence that the odd glass of wine causes harm to the baby, says study 
 
 Mothers who are consumed by anxiety and guilt for having drunk the odd glass of wine when they are pregnant should be reassured by a new study showing there is very little evidence that it harms the baby, say experts. 
 
 Drinking in pregnancy is a fraught issue and causes much anxiety. Last year new guidance to the NHS in England urged women to try not to drink at all, but in the real world, say the new study’s authors, up to 80% in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia drink some alcohol while they are pregnant. Since half of all pregnancies are unplanned, many women drink before the test shows positive. 
 
 Warning pregnant women over dangers of alcohol goes too far, experts say Read more 
 
 Although there is strong evidence that excessive drinking harms babies in the womb, the study from researchers at the University of Bristol found that few good studies had been done on light drinking, which they defined as no more than two small drinks, or four units per week. 
 
 “Despite the distinction between light drinking and abstinence being the point of most tension and confusion for health professionals and pregnant women and contributing to inconsistent guidance and advice now and in the past, our extensive review shows that this specific question is not being researched thoroughly enough, if at all,” they write in the BMJ Open journal. 
 
 Without the evidence, it is impossible to say whether drinking small amounts is safe or not, they say. “Formulating guidance on the basis of the current evidence is challenging,” they say. They agree that drinking no alcohol in pregnancy is the safest option, but women should be told that little research has been done on light drinking, although they should also be informed that “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” they write. 
 
 A number of experts said women who had been alarmed by the NHS abstinence guidance would be relieved. “This valuable and humane study has shown that warnings about the dangers of drinking any alcohol at all during pregnancy are not justified by evidence,” said David Spiegelhalter, Winton professor for the public understanding of risk at the University of Cambridge. 
 
 Pregnant women don’t need a blanket ban on drinking. They need the facts | Jennie Bristow Read more 
 
 “A precautionary approach is still reasonable, but with luck this should dispel any guilt and anxiety felt by women who have an occasional glass of wine while they are pregnant.” 
 
 
 
 Dr Christoph Lees, clinical reader in obstetrics at Imperial College London, said the study showed the weakness of the evidence behind the official guidance. “Whilst it is possible that light drinking is associated with a slightly higher risk of having a small baby, there are other possible explanations. It will be an important challenge for those responsible for public health messages to convey nuanced advice that explains how robust or otherwise the evidence is,” he said. 
 
 Professor Russell Viner from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health took a different perspective on the same study, however. “This research confirms that based on current evidence it is impossible to say what constitutes a ‘safe’ amount of alcohol a woman can drink if she’s trying for a baby and for women who are pregnant. 
 
 “My advice to women is that it’s best not to drink at all if you’re trying for a baby or pregnant. Regularly drinking even small amounts could be harmful and should be avoided, in line with the precautionary approach.” 
 
 Justine Roberts, founder and CEO of Mumsnet, welcomed the study: “Unlike the no-smoking message, which seems to be universally believed if not always adhered to, pregnant women have remained a little sceptical about the zero-alcohol advice, and judging from the Mumsnet forums tend to be pretty realistic about the probable impacts of the odd drink and see no point in dwelling on the amounts they drank before even knowing they were pregnant.”
– One in 10 pregnant women admit to imbibing alcohol and—even more worrisome for health officials—one in 33 admit to binge drinking in the past month, according to a report published by the CDC. "Any alcohol use during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of birth defects and developmental disabilities," the study's author, Cheryl Tan, tells Reuters. According to the Los Angeles Times, pregnant college grads were more likely to drink than pregnant high-school dropouts, older pregnant women were more likely to drink than younger pregnant women, employed pregnant women were more likely to drink than unemployed pregnant women, and unmarried pregnant women were more likely to drink than married pregnant women. But it was the statistics about binge drinking—defined as having four or more drinks at one time—that most surprised researchers, Reuters reports. Those who do binge drink do so an average of 4.6 times a month, even more than non-pregnant women who binge drink (3.1). It's a dispiriting finding for US health officials hoping to end pregnant binge drinking by 2020, according to the Times. Tan tells Reuters she hopes the study can help combat "mixed messages" from the media on the safety of drinking while pregnant. "It's really important to remember that there is no safe amount, no safe time, and no safe type of alcohol to drink during pregnancy," she says. The data for the study comes from a national phone survey of more than 8,300 pregnant women. (Binge drinking is super bad for your immune system.)