Passive smoking: an impact on children’s weight and memory

Passive smoke causes little-known damage to children’s health. This is what American researchers say in the journal Childhood Obesity. To reach this conclusion, these scientists examined the effects of passive exposure to smoke in 220 overweight, or obese boys and girls, aged 7-11 years.

They observed that children who were victims of second-hand smoke were more overweight than children who were not exposed to smoke. The latter, for example, had bigger bellies, or simply more fat on the whole body.
In addition, “cognitive functions were weaker in these children exposed to second-hand smoke,” adds Dr. Catherine Davis, psychologist at Augusta University (Georgia, United States), and principal author of the study.

Children who were exposed to second-hand smoke failed cognitive tests more than they took, “this can translate into poorer attention spans and lower grades in school.”

Another researcher on the team, Dr Martha S. Tingen says, “We are talking about a recipe that leads to a sick child who will then grow into an unhealthy adult. They will never be able to reach their full potential, ”she laments.
Ditto for good physical health, since these percentages of body fat in non-smoking children exposed to this smoke during their young age, amplify their risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, underlines Dr. Davis.

Possible interventions

“The simple take-home message for the general public is that for these children, exposure to second-hand smoke has been linked to two significant negative health outcomes, one over the neck and the other in below the neck, ”concludes Dr Catherine Davis sternly.

She believes, however, that targeted interventions could still improve these results. It calls for action on nutrition, physical activity, but especially on tobacco consumption among children and their families. “Everyone wants their children to be as smart as they are healthy,” she says optimistic for the future …

The only good news in this work is that the researchers found, with surprise, that passive exposure to smoke does not appear to worsen certain respiratory problems, such as snoring and short-lived sleep apnea when children are sleeping.

About 480,000 premature deaths occur in the United States each year related to tobacco use, with nearly 42,000 non-smokers dying due to exposure to secondhand smoke, according to the United States Department of Health and of Social Services.

Passive smoking affects the weight and memory of the#child https://t.co/RVXSpJe6kR #health #tobacco pic.twitter.com/ZBrJxtU15k

– Pourquoidocteur (@Pourquoidocteur) January 29, 2016