Beer during pregnancy: consequences for mother and child

To answer the question of whether beer can be pregnant during pregnancy, was as convincing as possible, we need indisputable facts. Therefore, let's start with the fact that these indisputable facts apply - with the chemical composition of a low-alcohol beverage, which is used throughout the world.

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

[1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

How does beer affect pregnancy? Poisons the body!

Drinking a glass of beer during pregnancy, the expectant mother should know how all this biochemistry behaves in her body, and, therefore, in one way or another affects the body that grows in it. About water, we can not say anything bad, especially if a bona fide beer producer uses high-quality H2O. So at once we will pass to other components.

Ethyl alcohol in beer seems to be a little bit - from 2.2% to 12% (in strong varieties - up to 14%). But ethanol (or ethanol, C2H5OH) is a narcotic substance recognized by chemists around the world, the use of which leads a person into a state of alcoholic excitement, and in significant doses disrupts the normal functioning of the central nervous system. Carbon dioxide (liberated by carbon dioxide) is the worst enemy of our digestive system. And how does beer affect pregnancy, if doctors do not recommend drinking even ordinary sparkling mineral water during pregnancy? Bubbles of mineral water and beer stimulate the secretory function of the stomach, and this leads to increased levels of acidity of gastric juice and bloating.

Further, acetic aldehyde or acetaldehyde is a naturally occurring organic compound. But acetaldehyde, obtained from ethanol absorbed in the composition of beer, is 20 times more toxic than ethanol and is a carcinogen. It breaks the protein balance of the body and damages DNA (in the gene of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase). This means that you can not drink beer in the early stages of pregnancy! If, of course, you care about the state of health of the future baby ...

Well, we will continue. In the process of fermentation in beer, the substance diacetyl (dimethylglyoxal) is formed. He learned to synthesize and is now used as a flavor (in the US they are improved by the smell of popcorn, margarine and confectionery). According to Western researchers, diacetyl reduces the production of liver enzyme glutathione by the liver, which provides for the neutralization of free radicals and the elimination of oncogenic heavy metal compounds from the body. Fusel oils (a mixture of amyl alcohols) are simply poisonous and irritate the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract, and with the constant use of alcoholic beverages, including beer, destroy the cells of the liver and brain.

Negative influence of beer on pregnancy, more precisely, on excessive weight gain of pregnant women, "provides" unfermented beer extract, which almost 80% consists of carbohydrates (dextrins and sugars). And overweight in pregnancy can cause fetal anomalies, and complicates labor (according to statistics, up to 10% of infants are injured in the process of birth).

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

It is obvious that the negative impact on the body of all the ingredients listed above should deter women who during pregnancy would like a beer.

Harm to beer during pregnancy: possible consequences for a future mother

The extremely harmful effect of beer on pregnancy is due to the ingredients used in its manufacture, such 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 then turn into alcohol. Few of beer lovers during pregnancy know that in order to increase malt activity and decrease starch losses, grain is sprinkled with a mixture of superphosphate and sulfuric acid during sprouting. And all this is in the finished beer.

And, finally, Humus lupulus, which, note, refers to the genus of flowering plants of the family ... Cannabaceae. So the special addiction to beer is caused by the same factors as drug addiction. In addition, the "bumps" of hops contain the plant hormone 8-prenylnaringenin, which is stronger than all other phytoestrogens and approaches the female sex hormone estrogen. In the normal state, the female body produces an optimal amount of estrogen, and in pregnancy the production of this hormone increases significantly, since it is responsible for the growth of the size of the uterus and the secretion of the necessary secretion of mucus.

But what is remarkable is that excess estrogen disrupts the balance of hemostasis (the ability to prevent and stop bleeding) in the direction of increasing fibrin and thromboplastin production, that is, intravascular coagulation and the risk of thrombosis increase. And what is varicose veins and thrombosis of the subcutaneous veins (thrombophlebitis) on the legs, is known to many pregnant women who suffer from edema of the shin, redness and soreness of the skin in the area of inflammation. But, probably, they do not know that if the future mother at the age of 20 to 40 years was pregnant with the whole pregnancy, then the probability of postpartum venous thrombosis (approximately 2-3 weeks after delivery) is increased tens of times.

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

Harm to beer during pregnancy: possible consequences for the future child

The complex system of biochemical and neurohumoral connections of mother and fetus organisms throughout gestation - and especially during critical periods of embryonic development - may be disrupted. To internal causes of pathologies of pregnancy, perinatologists include a violation of internal balance and dynamics of fluids in the body of a pregnant woman. However, these internal causes are very often due to external factors, for example, a woman drank beer in the early stages of pregnancy.

In addition, that plant hop hormone estrogen disrupts hemostasis of pregnant women, its excess with beer consumption reduces or even completely eliminates the development of the "pregnancy hormone" of progesterone. The lack of this important steroid hormone can lead to increased uterine contraction 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 urine in the urine. Than all this threatens the future child? The fact that he can lose the chance to be born ...

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

Decide for yourself whether beer can be used in pregnancy, if ethyl alcohol, overcoming the placental barrier, causes a spasm of the vessels of the placenta and umbilical cord, and thereby leads to oxygen starvation of the fetus. And it is the lack of oxygen (hypoxia) that causes headaches in the baby, sleep disorders, increased nervous excitability, epileptic seizures. The child will grow up, but the consequences of the intrauterine hypoxia transferred by him will be felt all his life.

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 alcohol-free beer during pregnancy can ... And they think wrongly.

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

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

And to all women who aspire to the birth of healthy children, doctors are also strongly advised: for two or three months before the planned conception refuse to consume alcohol, including alcohol-containing medications. Drinking beer when planning a pregnancy is also unacceptable. This drink disrupts the normal hormonal background of women of childbearing age. Even a pregnancy test after a beer can be wrong. This test determines the level of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) - a special hormone that appears in the woman's urine only after fertilization of the egg (about a week after it). During the first three months of pregnancy, hCG contributes to the development of progesterone and estrogen necessary to maintain pregnancy. If a woman constantly uses beer, the natural ratio of these hormones can be disturbed.

So beer during pregnancy can turn into the most unpleasant consequences for the future mother and her child.

[6], [7], [8]