Even periconceptional alcohol consumption can have long‐term consequences on heart health in the offspring

Overall, they report that despite treatment-related impacts on fetal cardiac growth rates, cardiac function was largely unchanged until 12 months of age, when female offspring of dams exposed to ethanol exhibited a significant reduction in cardiac output. Identifying the pathophysiology underlying the female-specific reduction in cardiac output will be important not only for determining the in utero drivers of future cardiac dysfunction attributable to periconceptional ethanol exposure, but also for developing future treatment strategies. [...]given the impaired cardiac function in the female offspring, it will be important to evaluate the degree to which these animals are more susceptible to developing heart failure. Specifically, future studies that are designed to evaluate the degree to which periconceptional ethanol exposure confers an increased risk for cardiac dysfunction and pathological remodelling after myocardial infarction or pressure overload would be of significant interest and would provide greater insight into the cardiovascular risk profile in response to early ethanol exposure.