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| Yes | 42% | 22 votes | Total: 53 votes | |
| No | 58% | 31 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesTo establish the idea of whether women get pregnant more quickly when drinking wine, it may be helpful to establish that due to the relaxing and potentially inebriating qualities of wine, it can be said that women can fall pregnant much more easily, as they may find that their previous inhibitions and careful attitude, can be swept away whilst under the heady "influence" of alcohol.
However, the question begs whether women fall pregnant more QUICKLY which insinuates a different meaning entirely and is asking us to look at the qualities of the wine itself and whether its consumption may have beneficial qualities to speed up or increase the chances of a pregnancy.
From a study of almost 30,000 women, new research has suggested that women who drink wine have a much higher chance at achieving a planned pregnancy than those that drink beer or spirits.
Researchers, who were led by Mette Juhl from the Danish Epidemiology Science Centre at the Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen, noticed that when grouping the women according to their drinking patterns, they found that women who drank only beer or only spirits waited longer to become pregnant.
Although they have no clear answer to explain their findings, they have suggested a number of factors such as wine drinkers may have fewer infections that cause sterility, have more sexual contacts, have more appropriate timing of intercourse, or have partners with better sperm quality.
Becoming pregnant can be a tricky business for some women, and if they have been trying for some time, and nothing has happened, and they have had the usual tests and have been told to be patient and "wait", frustrating though it may seem, the doctors are often right.
Many pregnancies are thwarted simply because the potential mother to be is just not emotionally ready or has built up so much tension and stress from each failed attempt at ovulation, that the brain begins to recognise the subject of pregnancy as being potentially harmful and may make a subconscious effort to block fertilization.
Drinki ng wine can help to alleviate some of this tension and help lower initial stress levels. Although drinking wine is not recommended when you are pregnant, it can certainly be the means to an end to get you to first base and you don't have be inebriated to achieve this.
The thing to remember is that when you are tense you do not perform well and your body does not function properly. Having a relaxing glass of wine in a calm and soothing atmosphere will go a long way to helping you overcome any tensions that you may have been experiencing beforehand.
Having said that. Experts have long believed that too much alcohol consumption can also actively restrict your chances of falling pregnant, and so you would be wise in restricting such wine consumption to a sensible level.
Moderation is the key to life, and it may be wise to remember this, in the process of trying to create a new one.
Learn more about this author, Jane Allyson.
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No
Ancient Akkadian texts speak of Geshtinanna, the goddess of wine and fertility. But does alcohol drinking and pregnancy really go well together? The link between alcohol intake and female fertility and fecundity (defined as the time it takes for a sexually active couple not using contraception to obtain pregnancy) is still a matter of controversy, as the results of research studies are conflicting.
A large European multicentre study found a prolonged waiting time to pregnancy in women with a high intake of alcohol (more than 14 drinks per week) (Olsen et al., 1997). Other studies have suggested a negative impact on fecundity even at low levels of alcohol (Grodstein et al., 1994; Hakim et al., 1998; Jensen et al., 1998; Juhl et al., 2003; Tolstrup et al., 2003; Eggert et al., 2004). For example, dr Tina Kold Jensen and others from the Department of Growth and Reproduction of the National University Hospital in Copenhagen reported that only 55% of women drinking a moderate amount of alcohol got pregnant within 6 months of starting to try, whereas 64% of women who didn't drink at all got pregnant in this time. Notably, the more alcohol that was consumed, the lower the apparent fertility of the women. The kind of alcohol made no difference: it included wine. Other researchers have not found any association between moderate alcohol intake and waiting time to pregnancy (Olsen et al., 1983; Joesoef, 1993; Florack et al., 1994; Zaadstra et al., 1994; Curtis, 1997; Parazzini et al., 1999).
In general for women, heavy alcohol consumption, which is generally defined as greater than two 10 g drinks of alcohol per day, has been consistently associated with anovulation and increased endometriosis (Grodstein et al. 1994). It has also been associated with a change in level of female reproductive hormones, for example, an increase in the level of oestrogen (Mendelson et al. 1987, Gavaler et al. 1993, Muti et al. 1998) and a decrease in the level of progesterone (Sarkola et al. 1999).
However, Juhl et al., in 2003, examined the reports of almost 30,000 Danish pregnant women and found that wine drinkers had slightly shorter waiting times to pregnancy than both non-wine drinkers and consumers of other alcoholic beverages. Whether that was an effect of wine itself or the characteristics of the wine drinker was still unclear. Furthermore, Juhl et al. added in the concluding comments of their paper "the association between wine drinking and waiting time to pregnancy was not very strong and there was no clear dose-response pattern."
On the other hand, alcohol exposure during pregnancy is universally recognized as a main cause of mental retardation and developmental problems in newborn babies (Abel and Hannigan 1995). In addition, heavy alcohol consumption has been associated with an increased risk of spontaneous abortion (Windham et al. 1997, Kesmodel et al. 2002). Therefore, current medical guidelines recommend that no alcohol should be consumed whatsoever over the period of conception and throughout pregnancy. Women who plan to get pregnant are largely aware of this and they usually drink less than those who do not have this intention.
Learn more about this author, Stephen Janowsky.
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