Researchers at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR), in conglomeration with the Sigrid Juselius Foundation, Finland, and the University of Washington, Seattle, have revealed that alcohol consumption can permanently change genes in developing fetuses during pregnancy, and this may be the first step to developing a diagnosis for fetal alcohol syndrome.

The study included two groups of mice that were fed either alcohol or water in the first stages of pregnancy and their "teen" offspring were analyzed.

The result revealed that those who consumed alcohol had twice as many dark-furred offspring in comparison to mothers not exposed to alcohol thereby indicating the changing epigenetic state.

However, some alcohol-exposed offspring exhibited very slight skull malformations, similar to features seen in human fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) - a condition that causes growth restriction, intellectual disabilities and changes to the shape and size of the skull as a result of high levels of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

Dr Chong, lead researcher, hopes these epigenetic changes could result in a test that would screen a child's DNA and diagnose fetal alcohol syndrome, which was very cumbersome to determine.