Smoking during Pregnancy Increases Risk of Obesity and Gestational Diabetes in Daughters

Women who smoke during pregnancy could be placing their daughters at a higher risk of obesity and gestational diabetes than others, a new study warns.

A team of researchers from Sweden reached the conclusion after analyzing data from the Swedish Medical Birth Register. The data included details about 80,189 pregnancies, the history of smoking among participants, information about 7,300 daughters who became obese and 291 who developed gestational diabetes later in life.

At the end of the study, researchers found that exposure to nicotine while in the mother's womb - either moderate (36 percent) or heavy (58 percent) - played a major role in increasing the risk of their daughters gaining unnecessary weight later.

Similarly, daughters of women who smoked during pregnancy were also found developing gestational diabetes, compared to others. The risks were 62 percent among daughters of moderate smokers and 52 percent among daughters of heavy smokers.

Authors put forward a few factors to explain the occurrence: changes that occur in the regulation of hunger and satiety, destruction of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, and changes in gene expression of transcription factors prompting the creation of fat cells that occurs due to nicotine exposure in the womb.

"In conclusion, these data show that women exposed to smoking during fetal life are at higher risk of developing gestational diabetes," the authors wrote in a news release. "Although short-term detrimental effects of smoking on the individual and her offspring are well known, such associations might extend into adulthood, making the incentive stronger for undertaking preventable measures, particularly as numbers in some countries point to an increase in daily smoking among young women."

The findings of the study have been published in the journal Diabetologia.

Smoking during pregnancy has been known to bring many health problems for the child. Premature birth, low birth weight, cot death, asthma, infections, stillbirth and autism are some of the risks. Foreseeing the risks, researchers advice pregnant women or those planning to conceive to abstain from smoking. However, nearly 14 percent of women in the U.S. continue smoking even after confirmation of pregnancy.