Boys Who Smoke Could Be Harming Their Future Children's Health
New research has found that males who smoke in their teenage years risk passing on harmful traits to their children. The study was conducted on 875 people, ages ranging from 7-50, and their fathers smoking past. Those whose fathers were smokers at some point had more problems, such as asthma. Biomarkers showed that these traits were different from those that could be passed on from maternal smoking or those who smoke themselves. This was the first human study to reveal the impact of fathers' smoking on their children. Study co-author Negusse Kitaba stated, "Early puberty may represent a critical window of physiological changes in boys. This is when the stem cells are being established which will make sperm for the rest of their lives."
I think it's very helpful that this finding was finally discovered because people didn't and still don't really know how harmful a father smoking can be to his kids. I had heard about smoking while pregnant affecting the child but nothing about the father. I also think it is really interesting but also makes sense that this is seen with children whose fathers smoked before or during puberty. I never thought about how their sperm cells are developed during puberty and that something like smoking can have an effect on that. Reading this article made me think why it hasn't been studied before as the whole world knows pregnant women shouldn't smoke. This finding also upsets me because I feel nowadays many young boys smoke vapes and such and therefore the following generation might not be so healthy.
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I wonder if excessive drinking could have similar effects, or at least other negative effects in general. I'd imagine it would, but I suppose that's why people do research.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that people who smoke could pass harmful traits to their children. I know that certain negative traits can be genetically passed down, but I always figured that smoking wasn't one unless it was the mother smoking while pregnant. I wonder why woman smoking wasn't necessarily mentioned or observed in this study. I think this study could've been more solidified if the researchers looked at both men and women in terms of smoking causing negative effects in their children. Still a very interesting and educating article, maybe this will cause men to smoke less and think more about their future children.
ReplyDeleteThis article should be presented at High school/Middle school level to teenagers who are inclined to smoke/vape to seem "cool." They don't realize that they are literally harming their future generations but information like this is critical to spread awareness about the immense negative impacts of smoking.
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