Foetal exposure to nicotine increases obesity risk

Babies born to smoking mothers have a 47 per cent increased risk of becoming overweight as adults, a new Canadian study has found.
Researchers from Western University in London, Canada, found that nicotine from either smoking or nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) causes a wide range of long-term adverse reactions for the offspring, including an increased risk of obesity and metabolic syndrome.
Some women are encouraged to quit smoking when they become pregnant using NRT whether as gum, transdermal patches, nasal spray or lozenges.
"We knew smoking was bad during pregnancy. But the problem is one fifth of pregnant women in Canada continue to smoke, and 30 prospective studies have shown us that that babies born to smoking mothers have a 47 per cent increase in the odds of becoming overweight," said Daniel Hardy of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.

"And here's the interesting thing, that's even after adjusting for mom's diet and socioeconomic status," said Hardy.
"Our studies were designed to find if there is a biological basis between nicotine exposure from either NRT or smoking, and obesity and metabolic syndrome later in the offspring's life," he said.

Working in collaboration with Alison Holloway, of McMaster University, Hardy gave pregnant laboratory rats the same amount of nicotine, adjusted for weight, that an average smoker receives (1 mg per kg a day).
The offspring were born smaller in size, but six months later when they reached adulthood, the rats had developed an increase in liver and circulating triglycerides, a hallmark of obesity.

The study also demonstrated that the nicotine-exposed liver, long-term, is making more triglycerides via transcriptional and epigenetic changes.
Hardy now wants to find out if increased perinatal doses of folic acid would prevent or reverse the nicotine damage to the developing liver.
Folic acid has been shown to reduce circulating triglycerides in animal studies, and smoking moms have been found to have low levels of folate so Hardy said, it is conceivable.
Hardy said that compared to smoking, NRT is the lesser of two evils, but clinicians may need to look more closely at the long-term safety and efficacy of nicotine in pregnancy on postnatal health and well-being.

The research is published in the journal Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology.