(Decanter) - Children born to women who drink moderately during pregnancy are no more likely to have cognitive or behavioural problems than those of abstainers, a new study has found. 

This study, reported in BJOG, An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, put together data from the Millennium Cohort Study, a national study of 10,000 infants born in the UK between 2000-2002.

The study assessed whether light drinking – defined as to two units of alcohol or the equivalent of on 175ml glass of wine per week – in pregnancy was linked to unfavourable developmental outcomes in seven-year-old children.

Researchers from University College London used information on over 10,000 seven-year-olds, looking at their social and emotional behaviour as well as their cognitive performance in maths, reading and spatial skills. Their parents and teachers were also surveyed via questionnaires.