Maternal consumption of pulque, a traditional central Mexican alcoholic beverage: relationships to infant growth and development

Objectives: To document the consumption during pregnancy of pulque, a traditional central Mexican alcoholic beverage, and its relationship to subsequent infant size, physical growth and performance on the Bayley Scales of infant Development. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Six villages in rural, central Mexico in 1984-1985. Subjects: Seventy mother-infant pairs. Results: Most women (72.9%) consumed pulque during pregnancy, and 28.6% consumed more than 150 g ethanol week(-1) from the beverage. individuals who consumed pulque showed no compensating decrease in energy obtained from other foods. Pulque consumption possessed curvilinear relationships with both infant length (at 1 and 6 months) and Bayley mental performance (at 6 months). Heavy pulque intakes were associated with smaller infant size and poorer mental performance, in modest quantities, pulque consumption may have been beneficial due to its micronutrient content. Conclusions: Intakes of alcohol from pulque were common among pregnant women in these rural, central Mexican villages. Given current scientific knowledge of the adverse effects of ethanol on foetal development, public health interventions are needed to reduce heavy pulque consumption during pregnancy in some areas of rural Mexico.