Abstract
Alcoholism has always been a serious worldwide problem that affects not only the individuals, but families and communities among the nations. People who face problem of alcoholism have various issues such as: health and psychological problems, limited relationships, problems with law and finances. Unfortunately, as usual, it happens so that addicted to the alcohol people inflict pain not only to themselves, but to close people that surround them, dramatically, it can be children as well.
In general, alcohol is considered as the most widely abused drug among adults and teenagers, 14% of teens have been intoxicated (Cunha J., 2012).
It is an interesting fact, that men’s and women’s alcoholism carries different risks; however they can be caused by almost same reasons. In this work women’s alcohol abuse will be discussed, directly, maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy and the outcomes of this issue including exposure of alcohol on human development such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).
Key words: alcoholism, addiction, women’s alcoholism, maternal alcohol consumption, FAS.
Introduction
To begin with, talking about alcohol consumption, we should remember that men and women have different internal mechanisms of alcohol metabolism. According to the information provided by Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (2012) there are three main key factors that explain physical complications of women’s addiction.
The first states that women have less water in their bodies to help dilute the alcohol in their blood stream. Also in comparison to men, women’s bodies have higher concentrations of adipose tissue which produces slower alcohol absorption. It means that consumed alcohol keeps being stored in woman’s body for a certain time. And the final factor is a certain enzyme needed to metabolize alcohol. Women’s bodies have lower levels of this particular enzyme than men.
Psychologically, ladies are more impressionable to surrounding stressful situations, facing violence or being abused, women hide feelings in alcohol. And only units think about consequences.
Besides hormonal disorder and other physical problems that drinking woman has, there is still an important question – pregnancy and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome of children affected by maternal alcohol consumption.
The main issue
Maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy can cause serious birth defects, of which Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is the most devastating. Pearson C., gives the information about the studies carried to prove that excessive women’s drinking and drinking during pregnancy are dangerous for the future child. Dr. Colin Carter, an instructor in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and his colleagues recruited two groups of pregnant women: 85 were defined as heavy drinkers, consuming two or more drinks per day or four or more drinks on a single occasion while pregnant. Another 63 women were defined as light drinkers, having less than one drink a day, or abstained from alcohol entirely. Researchers measured their children's weight, height and head circumference when they were babies, and then again at ages five and nine. Children of heavy drinking mothers had lower weight, height and head circumference if to compare with babies who …