Women Who Smoke During Pregnancy Alter Baby’s DNA

Although doctors already strongly advise women not to smoke while they are pregnant, new evidence offers further evidence for the harm it does. A study in the American Journal of Human Genetics, released this week, suggests that smoking during pregnancy may cause alterations to the baby’s DNA.

Smoking during pregnancy affects what’s known as “methylation,” the study found. The process of methylation determines how DNA works, and if certain genes are not methylated, or are methylated differently than they should be, it can result in a greater likelihood of the baby acquiring certain diseases.  

“When women smoked daily during pregnancy, researchers identified 6,073 places where their babies’ DNA was methylated differently from the DNA of nonsmokers’ infants,” according to Yahoo news.

The areas of DNA that the researchers found were most affected included those that determine the development of the lungs and nervous system, cancers related to smoking, and birth defects such as cleft lip and palate.

Despite previous studies about the harmful effects of smoking while pregnant, the study found that “many pregnant women still smoke, including 12.3% in the U.S.”