The risk of maternal smoking

The smoking habit carries numerous health problems and it harms not only smokers but also people live with them. Additionally to the well known adverse health effects, a recent study conducted by researchers from the Facultad de Medicina of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid within the Agri-Food and Health cluster of the Moncloa Campus shows that maternal smoking has a negative impact on dietary quality of their children, which produces, among other effects, lower blood folate levels, and therefore a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer in adulthood.

04/12/2012

The smoking habit carries numerous health problems and it harms not only smokers but also people live with them. Additionally to the well known adverse health effects, a recent study conducted by researchers from the Facultad de Medicina of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid within the Agri-Food and Health cluster of the Moncloa Campus shows that maternal smoking has a negative impact on dietary quality of their children, which produces, among other effects, lower blood folate levels, and therefore a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer in adulthood.

The study was carried out in 638 schoolchildren between 8 and 13 years old from schools of Madrid, which diet and nutritional status in children and the presence of the smoking habits in mothers and fathers were assessed.

The study found that children of smoking mothers had lower blood levels of folate than children of nonsmoking mothers. Folate or folic acid that is mainly found in vegetables and fruits, is a vitamin especially important because it helps to appropriate growth and development of children and contributes to prevent cardiovascular disease by reducing the amount of homocysteine in blood, a substance which in high concentrations increases the risk of heart attack, atherosclerosis and stroke, as well as helps to prevent certain types of cancer as it has antioxidant effect.

The main reason that children of smoking mothers had lower blood levels of folate may be due to they also consumed less vegetables and fruits which, as already mentioned, are the main sources of this vitamin. In addition, the authors noted, this fact also negatively affects the overall nutritional status of children, as these foods also provide other vitamins, minerals and fiber, nutrients that are essential for children.

The authors said, the reason that children of smoking mothers consume less quantity of such foods could be due to that in general, smokers have a less healthy lifestyle than people who do not smoke. Thus it is likely that children of smoking mothers have similar diets or mothers who smoke are less motivated by health and show a lower degree of sensitivity to food-related issues negatively affecting the eating habits of their children.

Regarding paternal smoking, the authors indicate that they have not found the same effect on the quality of the diet of their children, which could be due to even though in many cases father is responsible for family diet, in most cases (93%) mother is who is responsible for planning and for preparing meals, according to data from this study.

It is of great concern that a child from early age could have a higher risk of certain diseases by a nutritional deficiency due to the mother is a smoker. For this reason, the authors emphasize that mothers have to look help to quit smoking and pay particular attention to feeding of their children, trying to provide them an adequate diet, which includes fruits and vegetables, in order to prevent the occurrence of future diseases in their offspring.

González-Rodríguez, LG (2012) Nutritional situation of schoolchildren of Madrid. Family Factors Thesis

Author of the article: Liliana Guadalupe Rodríguez González

Tag: Agri-Food and Health    Source: CEI Campus Moncloa

Event date:

04/12/2012