the passive smoking make children fat and promote poor academic performance, according to a study published in the medical journal Childhood Obesity.
Researchers from the Medical College of Georgia (United States) conducted a study with 220 obese or overweight children with poor academic performance. They evaluated their level of contact with cigarette smoke and measured in the blood, their level of cotinine, a nicotine derivative, an indicator of passive smoking.
This study first showed a 25% difference between the presence of nicotine in the blood and the statements of parents. It also found a link between passive smoking and a majority of measures of childhood obesity (including larger stomachs and increased body fat) and poor academic performance.
“Children are generally not able to escape smoking from their environment, which is why it is up to parents not to expose them,” recalls Dr Martha Tingen. “Raising awareness of the issues of nutrition, physical activity and tobacco is necessary to prevent harmful consequences on the health of parents and children ”.
Passive smoking, an enemy for health
The conclusions of this study remind us that passive smoking is a real public health issue. Indeed, the World Health Organization recalls that passive smoking is responsible for more than 600,000 deaths per year in the world, or one in 100. And if we take into account only deaths caused by tobacco , the passive smoking is responsible for one in 10 deaths. Exposure to second-hand smoke is responsible for 379,000 deaths from ischemic heart disease each year, 165,000 deaths from respiratory infections, 36,900 deaths from asthma and 21,400 deaths by lung cancer. Passive smoking also increases the risk of developing breast cancer by 10%, according to the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm).
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