Drinking by Men or Women Affects Miscarriage Risk starts with the unsurprising news:
Dr. Tine Brink Henriksen, of Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark and colleagues followed 430 couples who were attempting a first-time pregnancy. The study participants were all 20 to 35 years old.A total of 186 pregnancies occurred during the study period, of which 55 ended in spontaneous abortion and 131 resulted in childbirth, the investigators report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Women who reported consuming 10 or more drinks per week at the time of conception were nearly three times more likely to experience a miscarriage than those who had not consumed any wine, spirits, or beer at the time of conception.
Then it gives the more surprising news:
When men consumed 10 or more weekly drinks at the time of conception, their partners’ risk of spontaneous abortion was up to five times greater than it was for women whose male partners did not drink, the report indicates.The reason for the association between drinking among males and spontaneous abortion is not fully understood. However, studies have shown that alcohol consumption is associated with chromosomal abnormalities in sperm cells, and many aborted fetuses are known to have chromosomal abnormalities.