5. Anomalies of the Organ Systems
Alcohol is known to affect not only the CNS but also organs that are developmentally related to
CNS derivatives, including those developmentally dependent on neural crest cells like the cranio-facial
complex and the heart.
5.1. Oro-Facial Clefts
A number of reports addressed a potential correlation between alcohol consumption and oral clefts.
In a case control surveillance study Meyer et al. [33] collected 5,956 liveborn infants with: Cleft Palate
(CP), Cleft Lip (CL), or both CP and CL. Based on the maternal report of alcohol use during the first 4
month of pregnancy, the authors failed to link low levels of alcohol use and oral clefts. Even the
highest level of alcohol consumption did not result in a higher number of infants born with a cleft than
with the use of less than one drink per week or less than one drink per drinking day. In addition,
folic-acid supplemented multivitamins used by some of the women did not modify the association
between oral clefts and ethanol consumption. In contrast, Romitti et al. [34] based on the data from the
National Birth Defects Prevention Study, found a weak correlation between average periconceptional
alcohol consumption and all oro-facial clefts (combined and isolated clefts). A moderate link was
identified for multiple clefts and for Pierre-Robin syndrome, although based on small numbers.