Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Men Smoking Before Puberty Likely To Risk Obesity In Future Offspring: Study

In a new study researchers have found men who smoke before puberty may raise the risk of obesity in future offspring.

It is said young boys if starts smoking before the age of 11 run the risk of having overweight sons, and to lesser extent overweight daughters.

The study was conducted by British researchers and this is the first time such evidence of lifestyle factors in childhood have been found to affect the future offspring health, as stated here.

Marcus Pembrey, a professor of genetics at the University College London, said in the current rise in obesity the new finding come as big implications for research. Pembrey had led the study and also presented it at a briefing today.

Smoking has dramatically dropped in some parts of Europe, including Britain, but still about one billion men smoke across the world. World Health Organization (WHO) data reveals 35 percent of men in developed countries smoke, and the figure is about 50 percent in the developing nations.

The new finding is published in the European Journal of Human Genetics based on the analyzing about 10,000 fathers with their detailed lifestyle, genetic and other health data. Researchers found 5,376 smokers started smoking at some time, and out of these 3 percent said they started before the age of 11. The researchers found the next generation of these smokers were found to have highest Body Mass Index scores at the age of 13, 15 and 17 with those sons of men who started smoking later in life.

1 comment:

  1. These statistics are still frightening, aren't they. The old saying "the sins of the father......." looks like it's having an effect on these young children. How long is it going to take us, as humans, to wake up to ourselves?

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