A long-term study concludes that women who drank as few as three drinks at a single sitting during early pregnancy had children who were more likely to have alcohol problems by the time they reached age 21, UPI reported Sept. 5.

Australian researchers interviewed women during their first prenatal visits between 1981 and 1984, then assessed the women and their offspring periodically over the next 21 years. The study, which involved 2,138 parents and children, found that women who drank heavily even once during early pregnancy were 2.47 times more likely to have children with early-onset alcohol disorders (prior to age 18), and 2.04 times more likely to have children with late-onset alcohol problems (between ages 18 and 21).

The research, led by Rosa Alati of the University of Queensland, appears in the September 2006 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. 

Reference:
Alati, I. et. al. (2006). In Utero Alcohol Exposure and Prediction of Alcohol Disorders in Early Adulthood. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 63:1009-1016.