Beer in pregnancy: consequences for mother and child

In order for the answer to the question of whether beer is allowed during pregnancy to be as convincing as possible, indisputable facts are needed. Therefore, let's start with what these indisputable facts include - the chemical composition of the low-alcohol drink that is consumed all over the world.

So, beer contains water, ethyl alcohol, carbon dioxide, acetaldehyde, diacetyl, phytoestrogens (hormones of plant origin), fusel oils and unfermented extract. In addition, it is worth talking about barley malt and hops, which are used in the production of beer.

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How does beer affect pregnancy? It poisons the body!

When drinking a glass of beer during pregnancy, the expectant mother should know how all this biochemistry behaves in her body, and, therefore, one way or another affects the organism that grows in her. We can’t say anything bad about water, especially if a conscientious beer manufacturer uses high-quality H2O. So let’s move on to other components right away.

There is not much ethyl alcohol in beer, it seems – from 2.2% to 12% (in strong varieties – up to 14%). But ethyl alcohol (or ethanol, C2H5OH) is a narcotic substance recognized by chemists all over the world, the use of which leads a person to a state of alcoholic excitement, and in significant doses disrupts the normal functioning of the central nervous system. Carbon dioxide (released by carbonic acid) is the worst enemy of our digestive system. And how does beer affect pregnancy, if doctors do not recommend drinking even ordinary carbonated mineral water during pregnancy! The bubbles of mineral water and beer stimulate the secretory function of the stomach, and this leads to an increase in the acidity of gastric juice and bloating.

Next, acetaldehyde or acetaldehyde is a widely occurring organic compound in nature. But acetaldehyde obtained from ethanol absorbed in beer is 20 times more toxic than ethanol and is a carcinogen. It disrupts the protein balance of the body and damages DNA (in the gene of the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme). This means that you cannot drink beer in the early stages of pregnancy! Unless, of course, you are concerned about the health of your future baby...

Well, let's continue. During the fermentation process, diacetyl (dimethylglyoxal) is formed in beer. They learned to synthesize it and now use it as a flavoring agent (in the US, it is used to improve the smell of popcorn, margarine and confectionery). According to Western researchers, diacetyl reduces the liver's production of the enzyme glutathione, which neutralizes free radicals and removes oncogenic compounds of heavy metals from the body. Fusel oils (a mixture of amyl alcohols) are simply poisonous and irritate the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract, and with constant consumption of alcoholic beverages, including beer, they destroy liver and brain cells.

The negative impact of beer on pregnancy, or more precisely, on excessive weight gain in pregnant women, is “provided” by unfermented beer extract, which is almost 80% carbohydrates (dextrins and sugars). And excess body weight during pregnancy can cause fetal developmental abnormalities, and also complicates childbirth (according to statistics, up to 10% of babies are injured during birth).

Yes, by the way, the height of the beer foam and its stability are the most important tasting and consumer characteristics of beer. And to improve these characteristics, manufacturers add special stabilizers, in particular, propylene glycol alginate (E405), alginic acid (E400) and its salts, as well as gum arabic (E414). All this also gets into the body of the expectant mother, who "indulges in beer."

Obviously, the negative impact on the body of all the above ingredients should deter women who want beer during pregnancy.

The Harm of Beer During Pregnancy: Possible Consequences for the Expectant Mother

The extremely harmful effect of beer on pregnancy is also due to such components used in its production as malt and hops. Malt is a product of artificial germination of cereal grains (for most types of beer - barley grain). It contains enzymes that break down starch into simple sugars, which are then converted into alcohol. Few beer lovers during pregnancy know that to increase the activity of malt and reduce starch loss, the grain is sprayed with a mixture of superphosphate and sulfuric acid during the germination process. And all this ends up in the finished beer.

And finally, the common hop (Humulus lupulus), which, mind you, belongs to the genus of flowering plants of the family... hemp (Cannabaceae). So a special addiction to beer is caused by the same factors as drug addiction. In addition, the hop "cones" contain the plant hormone 8-prenylnaringenin, which is stronger than all other phytoestrogens and is close to the female sex hormone estrogen. In a normal state, the female body produces an optimal amount of estrogen, and during pregnancy, the production of this hormone increases significantly, since it is responsible for the growth of the uterus and the release of the necessary secretory mucus.

But here's what's remarkable: excess estrogen disrupts the balance of hemostasis (the ability to prevent and stop bleeding) in the direction of increased fibrin and thromboplastin production, that is, intravascular blood coagulation and the risk of thrombosis increase. And what varicose veins and thrombosis of the subcutaneous veins (thrombophlebitis) on the legs are, is known to many pregnant women who suffer from edema of the shins, redness and soreness of the skin in the area of inflammation. But they probably do not know that if an expectant mother aged 20 to 40 drank beer throughout her pregnancy, the likelihood of postpartum venous thrombosis (approximately 2-3 weeks after childbirth) increases dozens of times.

Women who drink beer during pregnancy are also unaware that in every fourth case, thrombosis in women in labor leads to pulmonary embolism: this is when a thrombus breaks away from the wall of a vessel and enters the lungs with the blood flow, blocking an artery...

The Harm of Beer During Pregnancy: Possible Consequences for the Unborn Child

The complex system of biochemical and neurohumoral connections between the mother and fetus during the entire gestation period - and especially during critical periods of embryonic development - can be disrupted. Perinatologists attribute the disruption of the internal balance and dynamics of fluids in the pregnant woman's body to the internal causes of pregnancy pathologies. However, these internal causes are very often caused by external factors, for example, a woman drank beer in the early stages of pregnancy.

In addition to the fact that the plant estrogen of hops disrupts the hemostasis of pregnant women, its excess when drinking beer reduces, or even completely stops the production of the "pregnancy hormone" progesterone. A deficiency of this essential steroid hormone can lead to increased contractions of the uterus and miscarriage. Beer is a first-class diuretic. The diuretic effect of beer during pregnancy, during the first and second trimester, can threaten: first - an increase in the volume of excreted urine, and then - dehydration, increased blood pressure and the appearance of protein in the urine. How does all this threaten the future child? That he may lose the chance to be born...

Or that his intrauterine physical and mental development will slow down, and then something will form incorrectly and irreversible congenital defects will appear, for example, pathologies of the heart, liver, brain, central nervous system, lungs or kidneys.

Decide for yourself whether beer is allowed during pregnancy, if ethyl alcohol, overcoming the placental barrier, causes spasm of the vessels of the placenta and umbilical cord, and thus leads to oxygen starvation of the fetus. And it is the lack of oxygen (hypoxia) that is the cause of headaches in the baby, sleep disorders, increased nervous excitability, epileptic seizures. The child will grow up, but he will feel the consequences of intrauterine hypoxia throughout his life.

The Effect of Non-Alcoholic Beer on Pregnancy

And now about the so-called "non-alcoholic beer". Many people think: well, since there is no alcohol, then non-alcoholic beer is ok during pregnancy... And they think wrong.

In the production of such beer, the level of alcohol contained in regular beer is reduced to 0.2-1.5% using vacuum distillation or dialysis. As for phytoestrogens and fusel oils, they are present in full in "non-alcoholic beer". That is, all the other harmful properties of beer do not disappear.

Therefore, doctors categorically do not recommend drinking non-alcoholic beer during pregnancy: it can harm both the mother and the child.

And doctors strongly advise all women who want to give birth to healthy children: two to three months before the planned conception, give up drinking alcohol, including alcohol-containing drugs. Drinking beer when planning a pregnancy is also unacceptable. This drink disrupts the normal hormonal background of a woman of childbearing age. Even a pregnancy test after beer can be incorrect. This test determines the level of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a special hormone that appears in a woman's urine only after fertilization of the egg (approximately a week after it). During the first three months of pregnancy, hCG promotes the production of progesterone and estrogen, which are necessary for maintaining pregnancy. If a woman constantly drinks beer, the natural ratio of these hormones can be disrupted.

So beer during pregnancy can have the most unpleasant consequences for the expectant mother and her child.

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