Second Hand Smoke May Make Kids Prone to Weight Issues

Parents should stay away from their children when smoking. A new research has revealed that toddlers with smoking parents have a higher chance of having a wider waist and a higher body mass index (BMI) when they reached ten years old.

In a report from EurekAlert,a recent study led by Professor Linda Pagani of University of Montreal, associated childhood obesity to children's exposure to secondhand smoke. Pagani worked with other researchers and its affiliated CHU Sainte Justine Research Centre.

Despite the results Pagani and her team found, they still believe that the statistics they have established between childhood obesity and the child's exposure to their parents smoking may not be that approximate because parents do not usually report the actual amount of smoke they take due to embarrassment.

 The research disclosed that when children turn ten, those who are constantly or intermittently exposed to smoke may likely have waists that were three-fifths wider than other children their age. Moreover, their BMI scores will be likely .41 and .81 points higher, EurekAlert reports.

The result of Pagani's study is almost similar to the effects of smoking to the child when a mother smokes while pregnant.

Pagani and her team used the data collected through the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, which was a survey of children born across the province. The data were contributed by parents and teachers, and they are about the children's progress, well-being, lifestyle, social interaction and conduct.

The results of the study were determined by examining and comparing the behavior of 2055 families and its outcomes to their children.

While the increase may be not that much, it occurs during a critical period of the child's development known as "adiposity rebound period." The weight gain could have serious long-lasting effects.

Pagani explained, "Early childhood exposure to second hand smoke could be influencing endocrine imbalances and altering neurodevelopmental functioning at this critical period in hypothalamic development, thus damaging vital systems which undergo important postnatal growth and development until middle childhood, i.e. the period that we've looked at in this study."

The professor added that the procedure of how household smoke adversely affects a child's immune system, neurodevelopmental and cardiovascular system is both multiple and transactional.

Even if the children and the adult are exposed to the same amount of smoke, it would still be more harmful to the children because of their immature vital systems. Children have ventilation needs according to their body weight. In every kilogram of their body weight, children need ventilation of about 2 to 3 times higher than adults do.

Pagani's study is the first one to identify the effects of smoking to children's weight.

 The results are printed in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.