Link between smoking and obesity

Children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are more likely to be overweight than those who did not, according to researchers.

A study by Aberdeen University compared the Body Mass Index (BMI) of siblings at fiveyears-old whose mothers smoked between pregnancies.

It found those exposed to smoke in the womb had a higher BMI than the older sibling who had not. Data was gathered using the Aberdeen Maternity and Neonatal Databank (AMND). Figures gathered on the height and weight of more than 700 sibling pairs wascomparedwiththeamnd records. Dr Steve Turner said: “Previous studies have identified a link between [maternal smoking and childhood obesity] but saying that one caus- es the other is problematic because there are lots of other factors that might explain this relationship, for example people from a poor communities are known to smoke more than those in more affluent communities. Also, children in those communities tend to be more obese so it may be that the relationship between smoking and obesity is actually explained by socioeconomic status.”