They Say: You’re More Likely To Smoke If Your Mother Did While Pregnant

In case we needed yet another reason not to smoke — and to harass people who do — here’s a new study that shows a four-fold increase in the likelihood of being a smoker at age 22 if your mother smoked during pregnancy and/or your early childhood.

Researchers are suggesting that exposure to cigarettes in utero may lead to changes in the brain that put the baby at risk for future nicotine dependence. But the study was not careful enough to rule out social factors, like an increased likelihood that a smoking mother perhaps will have smoking friends, will accept smoking in her home, will be less alarmed if her teen takes up smoking, etc.

Then again, we are already pretty conclusively sure that smoking is nothing but bad for a developing fetus, leading to premature birth and low birth weights among other things. Whether it’s nature, nurture or a combination that leads the children of smokers to smoke, it’s fair to say quit.

I’m not one to pounce on pregnant women for what they eat or drink, and I wouldn’t pounce on anyone individually for this either. Smoking is a dreadful addiction, very difficult to quit as we all know. But it’s helpful to have clear evidence about something for a change, rather than murky warnings about soft cheese, or inconsistent recommendations about how much — if any — alcohol is okay while pregnant.

The take away here is: If you can at all manage it, don’t smoke when you’re pregnant. Do everything you can to quit. And for those of us who aren’t pregnant, the message is: don’t smoke around pregnant women and be supportive and helpful to pregnant women you may know who are trying to quit.

image: mcphee.com