Give That Man a Gold Star

I subscribe to Google News updates about Haiti, adoption, foster care, fetal alcohol syndrome and home schooling. I used to carefully scan the articles looking for blog fodder. Now, I categorize them and hope that one day I will read them. One of this weeks alert caught my eye though. I had to link in when I read the title Girls would be thrilled to be your shoes. What in the world did that have to do with FAS? The link took me to an advice column in Indiana’s Post Tribune. A pregnant woman was writing seeking support for her practice of having a glass of wine with dinner. This woman’s mother was “all shook up.” She wanted the advice columnist to tell her mother to chill out. The woman had already talked to her physician and was told that her nightly glass of wine wouldn’t cause harm to the fetus.

And,

“You’re writing to the wrong advice columnist if you want my blessing for that daily glass of wine. I don’t recommend it. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, which stems from a mother’s drinking during pregnancy, is a leading cause of birth defects associated with mental retardation. When pregnant, it’s smart to err on the side of safety and caution. To my way of thinking, that would mean no alcohol consumption whatsoever!”

Thank you Dr. Robert Wallace for supporting healthy brains!

I get annoyed every time I read about a doctor who does not have the moral courage to tell their patients that, every time a pregnant woman drinks, alcohol travels through the umbilical vein to the developing baby. The baby’s blood alcohol rises with the mother’s. Brains are usually protected from chemical assault by a blood-brain barrier. Doesn’t that sound fancy? It isn’t. Physiologist called it that to increase their self importance. It just means that the cells that make up the walls of the capillaries surrounding the brain are squished really, really close together. The space or juncture between the cell is tiny and big things can’t get through. Think of a camel trying to get through the eye of a needle. Most chemicals we ingest pass by the brain but remain safely inside the blood vessels. The brain is never exposed to them. The cell wall is made out of fat. So, exceedingly small molecules that can dissolve into fat can get into the brain anyway. The blood-brain barrier is not a perfect barrier. Things like alcohol, caffeine and nicotine have a free pass. Why do you think humans drink alcohol and coffee and smoke or chew tobacco? Honest. Did that first bitter cup of coffee taste as good as it did this morning? It affects our brains in a way that we find pleasurable. They couldn’t do that if they didn’t have access to the brain!

Alcohol has access to the brain. Just like mercury and lead, alcohol is neurotoxic — it is poisonous to nerves and nerve tissue. Alcohol kills developing brain cells. Yes, even a little alcohol. I will grant that more alcohol kills more brain cells. But, face it, anyone who has raised a human into adulthood (or anyone who has critically and honestly examined their own life) knows that humans need all the brain cells they can get.