Farahnak Assadi
*1 Section of Nephrology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, UA
Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy is teratogennic. The affects of
prenatal alcohol exposure on offspring range from growth retardation,
facial dysmorphism, and central nervous involvements. Impaired renal
acidification has been documented in infants with fetal alcohol syndrome
(FAS). The high urinary zinc excretion could deplete the zinc stores of
the body leading to zinc deficiency. Zinc deficiency in pregnant
mothers is also associated with fetal dysmorphogenesis. It is therefore
possible that the increased zinc excretion in FAS is a spectrum of the
impaired tubular dysfunction. The finding of low plasma zinc levels in
infants with FAS suggest the possibility of preventing the
alcohol-related birth defects by educating women of child bearing age to
refrain drinking alcohol during pregnancy and by supplementing
alcoholic pregnant women and their newborns with zinc. Further studies
of zinc metabolism in alcoholic women and their neonates seem justified.
Please cite this paper as: Assadi F. Renal dysfunction in fetal alcohol syndrome: a potential contributor on developmental disabilities of offspring. J Renal Inj Prev 2014; 3(4): 83-86. DOI: 10.12861/jrip.2014.24