A prospective survey of more than 9,000 pregnant women showed that those who consumed more than 0.4 l of wine or equivalent in other alcoholic beverages per day during pregnancy had a higher risk of unfavourable outcome. The risk of stillbirth was higher, particularly that due to abruptio placentae. The average birthweight was lower and the risk of giving birth to a small-for-date infant was higher. Furthermore the men placental weight was lower. Women with moderate or high alcohol consumption also differed from those with low alcohol consumption in some classical risk factors for the outcome of pregnancy, but the increased risk with consumption of alcohol remained significant when these other factors were taken into account. The increased risk among women with moderate or high alcohol consumption appeared to be limited to beer drinkers, although the mean quantity of alcohol consumed by beer drinkers was smaller than that consumed by wine drinkers.