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Findings from a just-released study suggest a woman's heavy drinking during pregnancy can as much as triple the chances that her child will show signs of alcohol problems by young adulthood. While a mother’s alcohol use has long been linked to a variety of problems in their children, including mental retardation, developmental delays and behavioral disorders, this new study is the first to tie prenatal alcohol exposure to later drinking problems.

Beginning in 1974, the study has been tracking 433 individuals since the months in which they were in utero. Eighty percent of their mothers drank while pregnant or during the months before they knew they were pregnant. Nearly one-third of the mothers drank "heavily" — five or more drinks — on at least one occasion during pregnancy. When the offspring were interviewed at age 21, 14 percent showed signs of alcohol problems, compared with just 4.5 percent of those whose mothers drank less. The link held true even after researchers controlled for factors such as demographics, family history of alcoholism, growing up around alcohol and exposure to nicotine.

The study raises the possibility that the inheritance of alcoholism is more complex than just genetics and suggests it could possibly be due to a poisonous effect of prenatal exposure. The findings underscore the message that women who have a chance of becoming pregnant or are already pregnant would be wise to avoid alcohol.