Cigarette smoking in childhood can have ripple effects over four generations

The British research team found this by observing the potential for high body fat in grandchildren and great-grandchildren who started smoking by the age of 13.

Smoking is harmful to people of all ages. But can have ripple effects over four generations from a young age. A research team from the University of Bristol has found that granddaughters and granddaughters of men who start smoking before the age of 13 are more likely to experience fat gain during adolescence and childhood. The analysis, based on data from more than 14,000 people born in the early 1990s, followed a preliminary survey in 2014 in which educators found that fathers under the age of 11 were over the age of 11. Sons, but not daughters, with increased fat mass in childhood, adolescence, and adolescence.

This second study expanded on these results by examining four generations, although its effects were seen in the offspring and not the offspring. ” If the paternal grandfather started smoking before reaching the age of majority, his granddaughter at the end of childhood (13-16 years) […] They had signs of high body fat between the ages of 17 and 24 years“The authors write in a new research published Scientific reports. ⁇ When uncles’ fathers started smoking before reaching puberty – Include Scholars – Their grandchildren were 17 and 24 years old with high body fat.

This transgeneration effect appears to be independent of intermediate generations. ” To find out if the next generation of smokers had these results before puberty, in the next analysis we excluded the next generation of people who smoked regularly before the age of 13 years. – Scholars claim -. The results are similar.

The research therefore provided two important pieces of information. ” First, the boy’s exposure to certain substances before puberty affects later generations, and second, one reason children gain weight is not because of their diet and physical exercise, but because of their lifestyle. Ancestors. Or the persistence of associated factors over the years“Professor Jean Golding, an expert in pediatrics and perinatal medicine and the lead author of the study, said in a statement.

Other factors such as genetics, epigenetics and various environmental factors also determine the association between previous body smoking habits associated with high body fat and obesity, and the researchers highlighted that this may play a role in advancing the development of the condition. ” There is still a lot to explore – Golding added -. But if these associations are confirmed in other data sets, it is one of the first human studies to observe these associations and analyze the source of potentially important intergenerational relationships..