Related Experiment Videos
Fetal alcohol syndrome: the 'American Paradox'
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Fetal Alcohol Research Center, Wayne State University and C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development, Detroit, MI 48201, USA.
Alcohol and Alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire)
|June 19, 1998
Abstract:
Nearly all cases of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) identified in prospective epidemiological studies have been conducted in the United States of America. The very high incidence rate for FAS in the USA and the relatively low rate in other countries does not correspond to measures of alcohol consumption. By analogy with the 'French paradox', we have termed the high rate of FAS in the USA coupled with its relatively low level of alcohol consumption, the 'American paradox'.