Smoking during pregnancy may lead to obese children, study finds

New research has turned up another reason for women to avoid smoking during pregnancy, informed the University of Alberta.

A recent study in the journal Gut Microbes has found an association between mothers smoking during pregnancy and a higher risk of their children becoming overweight or obese.

Anita Kozyrskyj, a microbiome epidemiologist and professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta, is the co-senior author of the study, says other researchers have shown that women who smoke during pregnancy tend to have babies who become overweight in childhood. But she says her group’s study represents new ground because they show an association that might indicate the reason. And it’s in those microbes found in the gut.

Kozyrskyj and the team used data from more than 1,500 children from the Canadian Healthy Infants Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Cohort. The team collected data from families that told about the mothers’ environmental and lifestyle factors during pregnancy and those of their children from birth to age three. Weight outcomes were measured at one and three years of age. Stool samples were collected at three and 12 months of age and analyzed to get a profile of the bacteria in them.

The researchers found that the increased risk of children being overweight and obese was associated with the amount and diversity of a phylum of bacteria known as Firmicutes. It was discovered that maternal smoking during pregnancy significantly increased the abundance of Firmicutes bacteria in the gut.  

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