We all know that consuming alcohol when you're expecting a baby is not recommended.
And now, a study has shown that teenagers who are exposed to booze while in the womb exhibit altered brain connections consistent with impaired cognitive performance.
So it appears that no amount of drinking is considered safe during pregnancy.
The researchers are working away trying to find out what are the biological changes in the brain that drive fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).
The study, which is published in the journal Chaos, analysed brain signals to find the long-term effects.
Lin Gao from Xi’an Jiaotong University in China said, ''This work presents major evidence that children exposed to alcohol prenatally are at risk of suffering from impaired cognitive abilities and other secondary factors.''
He continued, ''Our study shows that there is no safe amount or safe stages during pregnancy for alcohol consumption.''
Responses were measured from a brain imaging technique called magnetoencephalography (MEG).
So what is FASD?
It's one of the leading causes of intellectual disability and is linked to a range of neurological issues, including ADHD.
The theory links expectant mothers’ alcohol consumption to cognitive impairments for children, however, researchers are unsure about the way which alcohol alters the developing brain.
Julia Stephen from the Mind Research Network in the US said, ''The paper provides important integrative results for the field of FASD.''
She added, ''These results may then indicate that simple sensory measures may provide sensitivity for brain deficits that affect the broader cognitive domain.''
We already knew it wasn't safe to drink during pregnancy but it could have more of an effect on your unborn baby than you thought.
