The Baby’s DNA Could Be Changed If You Smoke During Pregnancy
Specialists agree that if you smoke during pregnancy you can harm your baby ; For this reason, it is enough that they warn us that we can put our little one’s health at risk, to think it over before doing so. More recent studies have been responsible for revealing effects that cigarettes could have on the fetus, including a possible modification of its DNA.
Apparently, the mother who smokes during her gestation process puts her baby at risk of developing diseases as a result of alterations in her genes. This situation is related to possible complications in the fetal pulmonary system, some types of cancer and lip malformation, among others.
How does the modification of its DNA affect the baby?
DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule whose importance lies in its ability to contain the vital information of each living being. As we know, in this are the chromosomes that determine all the characteristics of people, which when modified give rise to the main malformations and birth diseases.
An alteration of the chromosomes is responsible for diseases such as Down syndrome; however, studies have revealed that smoking is more closely associated with malformations such as cleft lip. In this sense, the studies revealed that this condition could be directly due to tobacco use during pregnancy.
According to the results of a study by the National Institute of Environmental Health, although the baby is not able to breathe on his own, those substances that result from combustion in case of smoking, are transmitted to the fetus through the placenta. Analysis of the sample revealed some 6,000 different modifications in the DNA of the umbilical cord of smoking mothers.
“We believe that it is the components produced by the combustion of tobacco and not the nicotine in cigarettes that modify the genetic code”
-Stephanie London, epidemiologist-
Although smoking was supposed to be a possible cause of palate or lip malformations, it has not been until now that it has been known that it was the product of DNA modification. It has also been established that the modified genes are related to the formation of the nervous system and lungs, which is why their incidence in other diseases is studied.
The study
A group of researchers from the US National Institute of Environmental Health, led by Dr. Stephanie London; sought to perform a genetic analysis in more than six thousand samples of umbilical cords in different parts of the world. To classify these samples, a percentage division was made where there would be “non-smoking” mothers, “occasional smokers” and “assiduous smokers”.
The results were published by the American Journal of Human Genetics; once after delivery the DNA of the little ones was taken and analyzed. Other studies had determined negative incidences of tobacco in the fetus, but until now it was known about the risky modification that it was capable of producing at the genetic level.
Consequently, experts were able to verify that smoking could affect people even before they were born. Besides the possible modification, it could also be related to other premature health complications.
This time it was a study that a group of experts carried out in order to identify which were the main factors that caused a genetic modification. The purpose was to determine whether elements such as the mother’s overweight, environmental pollution or the consumption of alcohol and tobacco could be the cause of such changes in the fetus or during childhood.
Other risks your baby faces if you smoke during pregnancy
In addition to the dangerous genetic modification that specialists have discovered, if you smoke during pregnancy, your baby is at risk of being contaminated in many ways. As we said earlier, it may not just be the nicotine that reaches the fetus through the blood; The product of combustion has also been shown to be hazardous.
If you smoke during pregnancy, your baby is at risk for the following complications.
- Delayed growth of the fetus
- Spontaneous abortion
- Stress in newborns
- Low birth weight
- Syndrome of sudden infant death
- Risk of obesity
- Possible behavior and / or learning problems
- Propensity for tobacco addiction
