Pregnant and smoke: here's your incentive to quit
In case we didn't have enough evidence that cigarette smoke is bad for asthma, new research suggests that moms who smoke while pregnant may be increasing the risk of their unborn child developing asthma by the time they are in preschool.
Of the 21,600 children studied, those who were exposed to cigarette smoke before birth were 65 percent more likely to develop asthma. This is a significant enough percentage for us to once again take this issue seriously. Mom's should not smoke while pregnant.
This study was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. You can read more about it at Medical News Today and dailymail.co.uk. An earlier study (you can read about at USC News) published in the same magazine discussed how smoking during pregnancy can cause DNA changes in the unborn child.
When you smoke you are putting, along with the highly addicting nicotine, over 40,000 chemicals that you never would think about putting in your body. Yet these chemicals are needed to make a cigarette and hold it together. The following are some examples (Source: Healthliteracy.worlded.org):
- Carbon Monoxide: Car exhaust
- Tar: Material to make roads
- Arsenic: Rat poison
- Ammonia: Cleaning products
- Hydrogen Cyanide: Gas chamber poison
- Cyanide: Deadly poison
- Acetone: Nail polish remover
- Butane: Cigarette lighter fluid
- DDT: Insecticides
- Formaldehyde: To preserve dead bodies
- Sulfuric Acid: Car batteries
- Cadmium: Used to recharge batteries
- Freon: Damages ozone
These are just some of the chemicals you are putting into your body. These are the reasons when you smoke you are at increased risk for various cancers, heart disease, dementia, and lung disease. And by smoking, especially while pregnant, you are putting these same chemicals into your child's body.
This is a really good incentive for you to think about quitting smoking. I encourage you to start the process now. Please, just start thinking about it. Then set a quit smoking date. I think a good date is coming up. November 15, 2012, is the Great American Smokeout. If you need help or support, call 1-800-QUIT NOW
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