On the basis of the findings of a telephonic survey which involved the participation of 14,000 pregnant women in the US, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed that 1 in 13 pregnant women admitted that they drink alcohol.

In response to the questions about whether they consumed alcohol the earlier month, and, if yes, in what quantity, almost 8 percent of the participants said that they had taken at least one drink in the month before the survey. The heaviest drinkers apparently were pregnant women aged between 35 and 44 years.

According to the Thursday-released survey results from 2006 through 2010, about 1 in 5 pregnant women who admitted to have consumed alcohol said that they had gone on a binge – that is, gulped down four or more drinks – at least once in the month.

However, it was somewhat encouraging to note that binge drinking among pregnant women has witnessed a marginal fall since a similar study was conducted in the early 2000s.

Meanwhile, about the impact of drinking during pregnancy, despite the fact that the findings of some studies have shown that ‘light’ drinking seemingly does not cause much harm, the practice of drinking among pregnant women has been strongly discouraged by US officials; with a CDC researcher telling Reuters: "Any drinking is going to put your child at risk."