Scientists have discovered that smoking while pregnant could permanently alter your child’s DNA, resulting in immune deficiencies and an increased likelihood of childhood disease.There are very clear warnings on every pack of cigarettes reminding the smoker that their habit can cause birth defects in pregnant women. No mother wishes any harm for their baby, so continuing to smoke is not an option. However, this is often a very difficult process and one that requires dedication and motivation.
A study by the American Thoracic Society may have just provided the motivation necessary for you to quit for good. It was once thought that a person’s DNA could only be changed by exposure to radiation, but this is no longer the case.
New research has shown that women who smoke during pregnancy may be putting their unborn children at and increased risk for changes in their DNA.
Changes in DNA are called Methylation. DNA methylation is essential for normal development and is associated with a number of key processes including genomic imprinting, X-chromosome inactivation, suppression of repetitive elements, and carcinogenesis.
These changes in DNA can cause a genes function to be altered, sometimes to an extent that they no longer work properly. Many researchers believe that this could be the reason that some children are more likely to develop childhood diseases such as asthma and even cancer.
“We found that children exposed to maternal smoking in utero had a 2.3 per cent increase in DNA methylation in AXL,” said Carrie Breton, ScD, assistant professor of preventive medicine at The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles.
There was no significant association with grandmaternal smoking.
The exact extent of damage caused by smoking is hard to estimate because of other environmental factors. It has been noted that many children who are exposed to smoking in the womb are also raised in a home with smokers, which causes frequent inhalation of second hand smoke. This in itself can also be a trigger for early childhood asthma and other health problems such as allergies.
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