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American Morning

House Call: 1 In 10 Pregnant Women Drink Alcohol

Aired January 15, 2003 - 07:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A new study out says expectant mothers are ignoring the dangers of alcohol. It says that 1 pregnant woman in 10 drinks.
Making a "House Call" from Atlanta this morning to look at that study, along with some news about ionized bracelets, is medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Good morning -- Sanjay. Let's talk about this new trend in pregnant women drinking more. What's that all about?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, let me talk really quick about these ionized bracelets first, just because this is sort of a quick interesting study. A study done by the Mayo Clinic found that ionized wrist bracelets are no more effective than placebo bracelets. You perhaps have seen these bracelets. They're supposed to be ionized and they're supposed to treat muscle and join pain.

In this study, a group was given the ionized bracelets, and a group was given the placebo bracelets. Both reported the same results with a little bit of improvement in pain.

Now, the manufacturer claims that there is no scientific consensus on these ionized bracelets, but a lot of people are buying them to energize and relieve pain through balancing the body's negative and positive ions. That's how it's supposed to work. You're going to have to decide for yourself on that. They cost between $50 and $250, incidentally.

Paula, a more serious topic, the one you mentioned. We know that pregnant women shouldn't drink, but a new study has found that 1 in 10 pregnant women still do. A study surveyed more than 1,000 pregnant women, and found that most women who drank thankfully reported only one drink or less each per week, but there were some binge drinkers who drank five drinks at any given time.

The risks are well-known that are posed to a fetus by alcohol. They include developmental problems, growth retardation, birth defects, and most severely probably, fetal alcohol syndrome.

The study also found that women who were more likely to drink earlier (ph) they were in their pregnancy or if they smoked.

Among the women who reported any drinking, just over half of them said their health care provider has talked with them about drinking while pregnant. Hard to believe that the message isn't out there, Paula, but fetal alcohol syndrome is still very much a problem.

ZAHN: So, why isn't the message getting out? I mean, we do it enough times here that you'd think that we help women out there.

GUPTA: Yes, well, I think, you know, in part, we have to overdo it, and when it comes to things like fetal alcohol syndrome, in part, I think a lot of women who are drinking earlier in their pregnancy don't know if they're pregnant yet when they start drinking.

So, women -- the one important message, women who are thinking about getting pregnant, trying to get pregnant, should be very careful about their alcohol use and assume that they're pregnant unless proven otherwise.

ZAHN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks -- see you a little bit later on this morning.

GUPTA: Yes.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired January 15, 2003 - 07:53   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A new study out says expectant mothers are ignoring the dangers of alcohol. It says that 1 pregnant woman in 10 drinks.
Making a "House Call" from Atlanta this morning to look at that study, along with some news about ionized bracelets, is medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Good morning -- Sanjay. Let's talk about this new trend in pregnant women drinking more. What's that all about?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, let me talk really quick about these ionized bracelets first, just because this is sort of a quick interesting study. A study done by the Mayo Clinic found that ionized wrist bracelets are no more effective than placebo bracelets. You perhaps have seen these bracelets. They're supposed to be ionized and they're supposed to treat muscle and join pain.

In this study, a group was given the ionized bracelets, and a group was given the placebo bracelets. Both reported the same results with a little bit of improvement in pain.

Now, the manufacturer claims that there is no scientific consensus on these ionized bracelets, but a lot of people are buying them to energize and relieve pain through balancing the body's negative and positive ions. That's how it's supposed to work. You're going to have to decide for yourself on that. They cost between $50 and $250, incidentally.

Paula, a more serious topic, the one you mentioned. We know that pregnant women shouldn't drink, but a new study has found that 1 in 10 pregnant women still do. A study surveyed more than 1,000 pregnant women, and found that most women who drank thankfully reported only one drink or less each per week, but there were some binge drinkers who drank five drinks at any given time.

The risks are well-known that are posed to a fetus by alcohol. They include developmental problems, growth retardation, birth defects, and most severely probably, fetal alcohol syndrome.

The study also found that women who were more likely to drink earlier (ph) they were in their pregnancy or if they smoked.

Among the women who reported any drinking, just over half of them said their health care provider has talked with them about drinking while pregnant. Hard to believe that the message isn't out there, Paula, but fetal alcohol syndrome is still very much a problem.

ZAHN: So, why isn't the message getting out? I mean, we do it enough times here that you'd think that we help women out there.

GUPTA: Yes, well, I think, you know, in part, we have to overdo it, and when it comes to things like fetal alcohol syndrome, in part, I think a lot of women who are drinking earlier in their pregnancy don't know if they're pregnant yet when they start drinking.

So, women -- the one important message, women who are thinking about getting pregnant, trying to get pregnant, should be very careful about their alcohol use and assume that they're pregnant unless proven otherwise.

ZAHN: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks -- see you a little bit later on this morning.

GUPTA: Yes.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.