Finnish researchers have found that smoking during pregnancy can adversely affect the physical form of future men.

It is well-known fact that smoking harms both mother and child: fetal development is delayed, the risk of premature birth, congenital malformations and infant death.

Unfortunately, all these data are not enough to convince some "caring" moms to throw cigarettes. Despite all the risks, in the same United States, many pregnant women continue to smoke: the US CCP claims that in 2011 there were about 10%.

Employees of the University of Oulu (Finland) in the pages of the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology write that the consequences of the thoughtless actions of a pregnant woman continue to affect the health of the child even many years after birth.

"Our study demonstrated that young men whose mothers smoked during pregnancy had impaired tolerance to aerobic exercise. This is yet another proof of the negative impact of smoking on health, "says Dr. Hagnas.

To arrive at such conclusions, the scientists scored 508 young men (mean age 19 years) and forced them to undergo a 12-minute Cooper test, which shows the overall physical shape.

Aerobic exercises generally reflect the body's ability to use oxygen efficiently for the work of muscle cells. The worse the physical form, the less oxygen the body uses. Examples of aerobic exercises are running, jumping, swimming, cycling - all that requires increased activity of the muscles, lungs and heart.

In parallel, the researchers collected data on the health of the mothers of participants, bad habits during pregnancy, the body mass index before pregnancy and weight gain for this period.

It turned out that 59 out of 508 men of the mother smoked a minimum of 1 cigarette every day while they were carrying a child. These men showed a lower tolerance of aerobic exercise compared to those whose mothers did not smoke. Regardless of body mass index and other factors.

Dr. Hagnas says that the findings should make women think again and seek the help of a doctor if they can not themselves quit cigarettes. In her view, every future mother must make every effort to protect her child, and there can be no self-justification here.

medbe. en.