REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas

By Deborah Kotz Globe Staff

Many pregnant women who heard the news this week that moderate amounts of alcohol won’t harm their fetus may be wondering whether they can safely sip a glass of champagne at a friend’s wedding or have a Coors light at a Red Sox game. Is the pendulum on alcohol finally swinging in the direction of caffeinated coffee -- towards allowing women to sip in moderation?

Not exactly.

While the new study published in the British Medical Journal adds to others suggesting that having a daily beer or glass of wine when pregnant has no detrimental impact on the developing fetus, it still doesn’t push the evidence tipping point in favor of imbibing, say experts.

The latest research examined the cognitive function of more than 1,600 5-year-olds who were born to Danish mothers who reported drinking during their pregnancy. Kindergartners who were born to mothers who consumed several drinks a week during pregnancy had no higher likelihood of having behavioral problems than those whose mothers abstained from alcohol while they were pregnant. Those born to mothers who binged on more than five drinks at once when they were pregnant, however, did have a significantly higher risk of scoring high on an assessment of cognitive difficulties.

(This was an observational study, so it couldn’t prove that binge drinking led to problems or that light drinking didn’t; it just made statistical associations.)

With results pointing to the dangers of binging, how much alcohol is safe to consume? That’s still a murky question with no clear-cut answers.