PROFESSOR of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Anambra State University Teaching Hospital Amaku-Awka, Emeka Ojiyi has advised women against excessive consumption of alcohol during early pregnancy saying it is harmful.
Ojiyi, the Dean, Faculty of Clinical Medicine, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH), Amaku-Awka gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Awka.
He said that excessive consumption of alcohol was capable of affecting both the unborn baby and the mother adversely.
“If a pregnant woman consumes excessive alcohol during the first three months of pregnancy, it is capable of crossing the placenta and impeding the development of essential organs.
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“For the mother, too much alcohol can result in pre and post-delivery complications which sometimes end in deaths.
“All we advice medically is moderate consumption of alcohol during pregnancy because of the trace elements contained in alcohol which are essential to the body,” he said.
Ojiyi also harped on the need for people to eat right, adding that eating right is the current medical nutrition advice to everyone.
“Before now, what obtained was the concept of a balanced diet, but nowadays, what we recommend is eating right because it is a bit challenging to say what constitutes a balanced diet.
“But the concept of eating right is teaching even a pregnant woman or otherwise to consume what his or her system can carry at a time,” he said.
He also urged pregnant mothers to be careful on the type of physical exercise they did as such might adversely affect them and the baby in their wombs.
Ojiyi advised pregnant women to imbibe the culture of registering early for antenatal as it would help the medical personnel to conduct basic tests and give necessary advice.
He said that if these precautions were taken, it reduced the prevalence of pre and post-delivery complications and child-birth rated morality.
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