Japanese researchers are of the opinion that smoking mothers can cause their kids to become obese in their latter stages of life. The Japanese study reveals that smoking during the early stages of pregnancy can triple the risk of obesity in kids in their latter phase of life.
Though nicotine has its own possible consequences — damaging effects to the baby’s brain which leads to long-term behavioral disorders and nicotine in breast milk which shortens the sleep time for babies, smoking seems to also trigger obesity in children.
Why do Children of Smoking Mothers become Obese?
Researchers from Japan maintain that smoking mothers can reduce the amount of food and nutrition supplied to the developing fetus. This could be the possible cause for obesity in children of smoking mothers.
An additional result of the study also revealed that mothers who skipped their breakfast during pregnancy made their kids 2.4 times more vulnerable to developing obesity in their latter stage of life.
All these factors of depriving oneself of food which in turn would deprive the fetus of nutrition have been associated as the cause of intrauterine growth retardation. Improper nutrition and food supply to the growing fetus has been linked with poor nutritional habits in the future which can lead to overweight problems and obesity in children.
Results of the Study
Zentaro Yamagata, the pioneer of this study, observed 1000 children born to smoking and non-smoking mothers. The researcher revealed that children born to smoking mothers were 2.9 times more at a risk of developing obesity later in their lives. In addition, the study also brought to light that pregnant mothers smoked as early as when the kids were only 3 months old in the womb.
The researchers from the Yamanashi University’s School of Medicine thereby emphasize that smoking even at an early stage of pregnancy can make the baby overweight and obese in future.
