Maternal beer drinking: offspring growth and brain myelination

The type of alcoholic beverage consumed by pregnant drinkers appears to influence fetal outcome. Beer drinkers are at greater risk than consumers of other alcoholic beverages for having children with fetal alcohol effects (Sixth Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol and Health, 1987). The magnitude of the risk is increased, because beer is a very popular beverage in our society. Although animal models have been developed to mimic fetal alcohol effect in humans, it is possible that stressful procedures such as intubation, and the hunger of pair-fed animals matched to animals drinking ethanol in liquid diet have interfered with obtaining a pattern of alcohol intake which closely matches that of humans. A majority of the animal models used for alcohol studies have provided ethanol for intake, rather than alcoholic beverages such as beer, which is favored by humans. Thus, a new model for voluntary beer drinking by rats is presented here for use in the study of maternal beer drinking during gestation, and the subsequent developmental consequences in the offspring. Female Long Evans rats (N = 45) were tested by beer preference and assigned to beer drinking (BR) or control groups. All animals were given standard laboratory diet and water ad libitum. BR dams were provided ad libitum access to beer. A pair-fed group (PF) was given non-alcoholic beer with dextrin added to match the caloric intake of the BR animals. Control animals (CT) were given free access to food and water. Control groups included beer preferring animals as well as non-preferring animals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)