A study from the University of Montreal shows that children who are regularly exposed to their parents’ smoking run a greater risk of suffering from childhood obesity.
When parents smoke, children get fat. In any case, this is what a study conducted by the University of Montreal and the affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center (Canada) reveals. Young children whose parents smoke at home are at risk of having a larger waist circumference and higher body mass index (BMI) by the age of 10, researchers say.
While previous studies did not take into account family factors likely to influence a child’s weight, that of Canadian researchers also looked at parental mental health and its consequences on lifestyle choice. . For scientists, this is “the first study to link smoking at home and subsequent weight gain in children,” they explain.
1.5 cm larger waistline
“We suspect that our statistics underestimate the link between childhood obesity and parental exposure to smoking,” warns Linda Pagani, professor of psychoeducation at the University of Montreal and researcher at CHU Sainte-Justine, who directed this study. For her, the reason is simple: “parents feel a certain embarrassment in declaring their real tobacco consumption,” she explains.
Children aged 10 years, exposed to cigarette smoke intermittently or continuously, may have a waist circumference up to 1.5 cm above average. In addition, their BMI will be 0.48 to 0.81 points higher. “This prospective association is almost as strong as the effect of smoking during pregnancy,” says Linda Pagani.
Risk of impaired neurodevelopmental functioning
Even if at first glance, “the difference in weight does not seem very important, it occurs at a critical period in the development of the child: the” adiposity rebound “”, underlines the researcher, who recalls that taking weight in childhood could have serious long-term effects. In the first years of life, children’s vital systems are immature; the harmful effects of a smoky room are therefore much more acute for a child than for an adult.
“Exposure to second-hand smoke during infancy could cause endocrine imbalances and impair neurodevelopmental functioning at this critical period of hypothalamus development, which could damage vital systems that grow and develop tremendously after birth and through. ‘in mid-childhood, which is the period our study focused on, ”explains Linda Pagani.
Globally, 40% of children are exposed to their parents’ smoking at home. A worrying finding in view of the risks that parents pose to their offspring.
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