Exposure to Tobacco Smoke Before Birth Affects DNA

Cigarettes may trigger prenatal gene changes, leading to lifelong health problems, study suggests

Not to sound like a broken record but... a lesson is repeated until it is learned.  And this is too important a topic not to revisit.

Women who smoke while pregnant increase their unborn child's long-term risk for health problems, including childhood asthma, cardiovascular disease and lower pulmonary function, and a new study may help experts understand why.

Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) found that maternal smoking actually changes the unborn child's DNA patterns.

The new study found that fetal exposure to maternal smoking was linked to differences in DNA methylation, an epigenetic mechanism.

Epigenetics is the study of how chemicals that attach to DNA can switch genes on and off, which leads to differences in gene expression without changing basic genetic information, according to background information in a USC news release about the study.

While epigenetics plays a role in cancer research, little is known about how epigenetic changes may be caused by environmental exposures.

Data from the USC Children's Health Study among kids in 13 Southern California communities was examined by researchers, coupled with informational survey on mother's smoking habits. 

Researchers contend that the study provides some of the first evidence that in-utero environmental exposures such as tobacco smoke may be associated with DNA changes.  It certainly raises the question of whether such exposure is directly causative. 

This study could foster investigations into the biological mechanisms that might explain assumed negative health consequences associated with maternal smoking.

Obviously, mothers should not be smoking during pregnancy, advise physicians.  It is well known that maternal smoking during pregnancy is not only detrimental to the health of the mom and the newborn child, but research such as this suggests that it may impact the child into adulthood and possibly even future generations as well.

For the first time, we have evidence that smoking may directly cause negative consequences on children that last a lifetime. 

The question is: how will you use this information?