Smoking in pregnancy results in children having smaller brain

These findings are according to newly published research, which had investigated over two hundred Dutch children between the ages of six and eight.
Researchers found that tobacco disrupts the development of the nervous system of the fetus. This happens partially because it blocks the growth of neurons and to some extent because smoking makes the blood vessels of the fetus narrow.
In the study, half of the mothers smoked but half did not. The mothers, who smoked constantly, found that even after their child was eight years old, they still had drastically smaller brains. Likewise, higher amounts of depression and anxiety were present since their brains’ superior frontal cortex, the part which controls mood swings, had been created more poorly.
However, there was no clear link between the amount of cigarettes smoked. Participants smoked between one and nine per day, still it was noted that the length of time the mother-to-be was smoking was vital. A total of 17 women quit smoking once they found out they were pregnant. Research indicated that these children were not affected by their mother’s past addiction if they stopped early enough.
“Importantly, brain development in offspring of mothers who quit smoking during pregnancy resembled that of [mothers who never smoked] with no smaller brain volumes and no thinning of the cortex,” said head researcher Hanan El Marroun.
For the study, the children had to have MRI scans done. “Children exposed to tobacco throughout pregnancy have smaller total brain volumes and smaller cortical grey matter volumes,” El Marroun said and then added, “Continued prenatal tobacco exposure was associated with cortical thinning, primarily in the superior frontal, superior parietal and precentral cortices.”
Commenting on the research, Dr. Simon Newell of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in London said, “What was striking about this study was the alarming effect smoking had on the brain over six years later.”