Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr 29;14(9):1885.
doi: 10.3390/nu14091885.

Nutritionists' Practices and Knowledge about the Risks of Alcohol Consumption during Pregnancy: An Israeli Survey

Liat Hen-Herbst  1 , Meital Ron El Levin  2 , Yehuda Senecky  3 , Sigal Frishman  4 , Andrea Berger  5
Affiliations

Nutritionists' Practices and Knowledge about the Risks of Alcohol Consumption during Pregnancy: An Israeli Survey

Liat Hen-Herbst et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are lifelong disabilities and the leading preventable cause of developmental disabilities. Antenatal care providers may influence pregnant women's dietary practices and their awareness of the risks of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. This study aimed to assess nutritionists' self-reported knowledge about the risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy, professional practices in this respect, and self-perceived competence to assess and guide women about alcohol consumption during pregnancy in Israel. A sample of 526 professional nutritionists completed an anonymous online questionnaire. Results showed significant differences between the nutritionists' knowledge and professional practices scores. About 349 (66.3%) of the sample agreed (to any degree) that they did not have enough knowledge to guide pregnant women regarding drinking alcohol. The number of years of experience, combined with self-perceived competence and the mean knowledge score, explained 18% of the variance in professional practices. Nutritionists and other health professionals may have a crucial role in preventing FASD and should prioritize appropriate screening for prenatal alcohol use. Eliminating alcohol consumption at any point in pregnancy would reduce the risk for FASDs.

Keywords: (FASD) fetal alcohol spectrum disorder; alcohol consumption; pregnancy; prenatal alcohol exposure; preventive medicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Frequencies of answers to Item 12 among participants with special training compared to participants without special training.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Sebastiani G., Borrás-Novell C., Alsina Casanova M., Pascual Tutusaus M., Ferrero Martínez S., Gómez Roig M.D., García-Algar O. The effects of alcohol and drugs of abuse on maternal nutritional profile during pregnancy. Nutrients. 2018;10:1008. doi: 10.3390/nu10081008. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Burd L., Popova S. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: Fixing our aim to aim for the fix. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2019;16:3978. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16203978. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Young J.K., Giesbrecht H.E., Eskin M.N., Aliani M., Suh M. Nutrition implications for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Adv. Nutr. 2014;5:675–692. doi: 10.3945/an.113.004846. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lacagnina S. The developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) Am. J. Lifestyle Med. 2019;14:47–50. doi: 10.1177/1559827619879694. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mandy M., Nyirenda M. Developmental origins of health and disease: The relevance to developing nations. Int. Health. 2018;10:66–70. doi: 10.1093/inthealth/ihy006. - DOI - PMC - PubMed