Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a condition that is caused by maternal drinking during pregnancy. A research has shown that children suffering from FASD are at significant risk of developing epilepsy at a later age. These kids are more prone to suffer at least one seizure at some point in their lives.

The study examined 425 people who were suffering from FASD, to look for a connection between factors including exposure to alcohol and drugs during pregnancy, and occurrences of epilepsy and seizures. According to researchers from Queens University in Ontario, Canada, exposure to alcohol in the womb damages parts of the infant brain related with seizures, but the results of the study do not establish a direct cause-effect relationship between FASD and epilepsy.

Dr Dan Savage, Neuroscientist at the University of New Mexico, said, 'This report builds on a growing body of evidence that maternal drinking during pregnancy may put a child at greater risk for an even wider variety of neurological and behavioural health problems than we had appreciated before".

The Department of Health recommends that, pregnant women should not drink more than one or two units once or twice a week and not all during the first three months. The study has been published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.