Some studies suggest that women who drink during pregnancy have nutritional deficits relative to control subjects. In one study, for example, May and colleagues (2014b) examined the nutritional status of a group of South African mothers who gave birth to children with FASD compared with a group of mothers who gave birth to children without FASD. The mothers of children with FASD were more likely to be deficient in several vitamins, including vitamins A, B6, choline, C, D, and E; minerals, including calcium, iron, and zinc; and omega-3 fatty acids. Deficiencies in these micronutrients during pregnancy can contribute to abnormal fetal development (Nyaradi et al. 2013) and may further exacerbate the damaging effects of alcohol on the developing embryo and fetus. In animal models, maternal nutritional deficiencies (e.g., zinc or iron) during pregnancy increase the detrimental effects of prenatal ethanol on brain development and subsequent behavior in offspring. For example, the combined insults of prenatal alcohol exposure and iron deficiency resulted in increased cerebellar apoptosis (cell death), reduced myelin content, and greater impairments in cerebellar-dependent classical eyeblink conditioning compared with either insult alone (Rufer et al. 2012).
