Pregnant women's nicotine may pass through placenta and
reach fetus
Updated: 1 hour, 31 minutes ago
Future smokers may be programmed in the womb to take up the
habit later in life, research published on Tuesday said.
Scientists in Australia have discovered that children of
women who smoked during pregnancy were more likely to become smokers than other
youngsters.
They suggest nicotine from cigarettes passes through the
placenta and may act directly on the developing brain of the unborn child.
"Our findings suggest a direct effect of maternal
smoking during pregnancy on young adults' development of regular smoking and
provide yet another incentive to persuade pregnant women not to smoke and to
discourage young women from ever taking it up," Dr Abdullah Al Mamun, of
the University of Queensland, said in the study published in the journal
Tobacco Control.
The researchers studied the smoking patterns of more than
3,000 mothers and their children who took part in a long-term study in
Brisbane, Australia.
Children of the 1,000 women who had smoked during pregnancy
were three times more likely to start smoking by the age of 14 and twice as
likely afterwards compared to other children.
The researchers said their results were consistent with
findings of earlier studies into the impact of smoking during pregnancy on the
child.
The charity ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) welcomed the
research, saying it stresses the importance of health education and of
dissuading all women of child-bearing age from smoking.
"It does seem there is a pharmacological influence on
the developing fetus which underlines yet again the importance of women
stopping smoking as soon as they know they are pregnant," a spokesperson
said.
In addition to influencing the developing fetus, researchers
have also shown that heavy smokers have lower odds of becoming pregnant through
IVF (in-vitro fertilization), even with a donated egg, because smoking makes
their womb lessWant to kick the habit?
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