Babies are at significantly increased risk of a heart defect if their fathers are drinking around the time of their conception, researchers have found.
The study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, found that the chance of a child being born with a heart defect increased by 44 per cent if the father had been consuming alcohol in the three months before its conception.
This rose to 52 per cent among babies born to fathers who had binge-drank - defined in the study as having five or more drinks at one time.
This was far higher than the risk posed to the baby by mothers who drank in the three months before conception or within three months of the child being born (16 per cent).
The study was conducted by researchers from Central South University in Changsha, China, and was based on a review of 30 years of global studies into alcohol consumption and pregnancy.
The researchers recommended that men give up alcohol six months before trying for a baby.
"Parental alcohol exposures are significantly associated with the risk of congenital heart defects in offspring, which highlights the necessity of improving health awareness to prevent alcohol exposure during preconception and conception periods," they said.
NHS guidelines advise women to refrain from drinking at all if they are trying to conceive.
"If you're pregnant or trying to become pregnant, the safest approach is to not drink alcohol at all to keep risks to your baby to a minimum," it states.
For men specifically, it recommends that they drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week "spread evenly over three days or more".
"Drinking alcohol excessively can affect the quality of sperm," it says.
