Believe It Or Not: Pregnant Women Still Shouldn’t Smoke

Kelly Mills — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:04:00 GMT

A new study indicates that smoking during pregnancy can have bad effects on the cardiovascular health of offspring. Researchers treated pregnant rats with nicotine, then tested the heart function of the babies three months after delivery. They found that nicotine decreased coronary blood flow in the female rats. Both male and female rats were more susceptible to heart injury. No word yet on why female rats fared worse. Just add it to the list of messed up things women have to deal with, like salary inequity and mom pants.

The study is part of new research called “fetal programming of cardiovascular disease” which looks at a number of things during fetal development that affect long term heart health. And of course, previous studies have showed smoking is not so good for developing fetuses. It has been tied to a higher rate of SIDS and to asthma, as well as a greater risk of heart disease into adulthood.

But if you didn’t know about the problems with smoking and pregnancy, here’s a few more things pregnant women should avoid: drinking lye; swordplay; sucking on car tailpipes; riding mechanical bulls; K-Fed and Eddie Murphy; eating mysterious mushrooms you found in the woods; and crack.

Study: Pregnant Smokers Have Girls, Not Boys

Karen Murphy — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:08:00 GMT

A crude but fairly-effective low-tech method of gender-selection seems to have been stumbled upon by British researchers: a new study of 9000 pregnancies in Liverpool, England* shows that moms-to-be who smoke are one-third less likely to have male children than moms who don't smoke. If the dad-to-be smokes, the likelihood drops to almost one-half (this is taking into account other factors such as health and age).

The mother doesn't even have to be a smoker at all, as even second-hand smoke was found to have an effect upon the resulting baby's gender. This is all pretty significant when you consider that 52%, or slightly more than half (I know you know this but I'm saying it for my own math-deprived brain), of babies born in Western countries are male. What would the balance be like if no one smoked at all, I wonder? (or if everyone did?)

Researchers still haven't a clue as to the cause of this phenomenon, but they hypothesize that it ~~has something to do with smoking~~ has to do with the effect of nicotine upon the Y-chromosome (which determines gender), and also something having to do with the effects upon the mother (it's known, for instance, that smoking reduces estrogen and thins the cervix, as well as causes other bad stuff, but how this results in gender changes they haven't a clue).

So, if you want a girl, smoke 'em if you've got 'em!

*damn, I couldn't work the term "Liverpudlian" into this article.

Strollerderby : pregnancy and smoking

Believe It Or Not: Pregnant Women Still Shouldn’t Smoke

Study: Pregnant Smokers Have Girls, Not Boys