Study: Moderate drinking while pregnant may not be harmful - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports

DENMARK (WKOW) –A new Danish study printed Tuesday has found that drinking low to moderate amounts of alcohol while pregnant may not have any damaging developmental effects on children years later.

But researchers say pregnant women should still be cautious and avoid alcohol altogether, since no safe level of alcohol consumption has been established.

Danish researchers statistically evaluated how different levels of drinking during pregnancy affected the five-year-old children of 1,628 women. Researchers compared women who drank various amounts of alcohol per week while pregnant.  They also assessed their children's IQ, attention span and their capacity for "executive" functions, like organizing and planning.

The study found that children did not perform worse on tests measuring IQ and executive functions whose mothers reported having 1 to 4 or 5 to 8 drinks per week while pregnant.  Pregnant mothers who reported having 5 or more drinks, also known as binge drinking, also did not have any significant effect on children five years later, according to the study.

In the Danish study, researchers defined a drink that has 12 grams of pure alcohol. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines a drink as having 14 grams of pure alcohol.

For more information on alcohol during pregnancy, click here.