Smoking women not only raise the risk of heart disease and cardiovascular disease of their babies but also are at nearly 3 times greater risk of producing obese children.
This is result, of a study conducted by Yamanashi University's School of Medicine, revealed at the recent meeting of public health experts in Japan in the middle of October 2007. The survey was done over a period of almost 2 decades to cover some 1,400 women in Japan who gave birth between April 1991 and March 1997. The researchers then collected the data on about 1,000 of their children when their ages reached 9 or 10.
The study showed that the risk of obesity was 2.9 times higher among children whose mothers smoked when they were 3 months pregnant or in earlier stages of pregnancy, as compared with children of non-smoking mothers. This indicates that mothers who smoke during pregnancy, even in early stages can still affect the health of children over a longer period of time.
Nevertheless, the researchers could not find out the exact correlation. They "speculate" that children whose mothers smoked were in shortage of nutrition in the womb. The poorly fed babies in the womb would naturally stock up nutrition after they were born.
While the truth is yet to be found, what matters most for the mothers-to-be is to stop smoking for the sake of their children.
This is result, of a study conducted by Yamanashi University's School of Medicine, revealed at the recent meeting of public health experts in Japan in the middle of October 2007. The survey was done over a period of almost 2 decades to cover some 1,400 women in Japan who gave birth between April 1991 and March 1997. The researchers then collected the data on about 1,000 of their children when their ages reached 9 or 10.
The study showed that the risk of obesity was 2.9 times higher among children whose mothers smoked when they were 3 months pregnant or in earlier stages of pregnancy, as compared with children of non-smoking mothers. This indicates that mothers who smoke during pregnancy, even in early stages can still affect the health of children over a longer period of time.
Nevertheless, the researchers could not find out the exact correlation. They "speculate" that children whose mothers smoked were in shortage of nutrition in the womb. The poorly fed babies in the womb would naturally stock up nutrition after they were born.
While the truth is yet to be found, what matters most for the mothers-to-be is to stop smoking for the sake of their children.
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