
Mom-to-Be's Smoking Tied to Poorer Fitness in Sons
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 9, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Young men may have reduced aerobic fitness if their mothers smoked during pregnancy, a new study suggests.
"It's well established that smoking and breathing in secondhand smoke are harmful for both mother and baby. Our study adds to the existing evidence base of the negative and longstanding impacts of maternal smoking," said study author Maria Hagnas, of the University of Oulu, Finland.
The research included just over 500 young men, average age 19, in Finland, whose aerobic fitness was assessed on a running test as part of the military service assessment.
The 59 men whose mothers smoked at least one cigarette a day during pregnancy had lower aerobic fitness than those whose mothers did not smoke during pregnancy, the study found.
Having a mother with a higher body mass index (BMI -- an estimate of body fat based on height and weight) before pregnancy or a mother who gained too much weight during pregnancy was also associated with worse aerobic fitness in the young men.
And the sons' aerobic fitness was also influenced by their own smoking habits, weight and physical activity levels, according to the study published Dec. 9 in BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
"Women must receive advice and support to help them stop smoking during pregnancy, as well as guidance on how to maintain a healthy weight to minimize the risks to their unborn child," Hagnas said in a journal news release.
Previous research has shown that smoking during pregnancy greatly increases the health risks to mothers and their babies.
"Stopping smoking is one of the most important things a pregnant woman can do to improve their baby's health, growth and development, and this study demonstrates the negative effect smoking in pregnancy can have on a child's long-term health, too," said Geeta Kumar, chair of the patient information committee at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the United Kingdom.
-- Robert Preidt
Article Credits / Source
Sponsored Product
More Pregnancy Articles
Zika Babies May Look Normal at Birth, Display Brain Defects Later: CDC0
TUESDAY, Nov. 22, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Babies exposed to the Zika virus in the womb can look normal at birth but later show signs of the devastating birth defect microcephaly and other brain abnormalities, researchers reported ...
Imaging Studies Shed Light on Zika's Effects0
TUESDAY, Nov. 22, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- More details on how the Zika virus affects infants and adults will be presented to international researchers meeting in Chicago next week. Three studies scheduled for presentation at the annual meeting ...
Pregnancy Diet (Menu Plans)0
Superfoods or power foods are foods that have extra benefits beyond their nutritional content. Examples of power foods are: Pumpkin seeds Blackstrap molasses Almond butter Figs Sardines Oatmeal Pregnancy diet plan definition ...
Do Women Who Have Kids Later Live Longer?0
THURSDAY, Nov. 17, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- In what's believed to be the first study of its kind, research suggests that women who give birth for the first time at age 25 or older are more likely to live to 90. The researchers also found that ...
FDA Explains Pros, Cons of Permanent Birth Control0
FRIDAY, Nov. 18, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Women need to carefully consider the benefits and risks of permanent birth control devices, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says. The agency recently introduced labeling changes for one such ...
0 Comments
Write a Comment
Tag Cloud
Our Mailing List
Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest health news as it breaks!
Author
The full comment or 255 characters
View Article➦