There are several news and studies that claimed how smoking is destroying the health. Some of those research papers claimed that smoking during pregnancy affects the child but, until now there was no solid study that showed how consumption of nicotine by men could harm their unborn child and future generation.
Researchers from Florida State University College of Medicine have conducted a study, which showed that the men's exposure to nicotine can also cause problems in the future generation of their children.
The researchers used mice in this study and the results suggested that nicotine exposure in men could lead to cognitive deficits not only in their children but also in the grandchildren. But, further study is required to know whether the same could be seen in humans also.
Researcher, Pradeep Bhide stated that the data collected during the study, which was published in the journal PLOS Biology, has shown the possibility "that some of the cognitive disabilities found in today's generation of children and adults may be attributable to adverse environmental insults suffered a generation or two ago."
In addition, he also said, "Cigarette smoking was more common and more readily accepted by the population in the 1940s, '50s and '60s compared to today. Could that exposure be revealing itself as a marked rise in the diagnoses of neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD and autism?"
This research also suggested that changes in the father's sperm attributed to nicotine exposure may lead to several issues related to genes that play a role in memory and learning capacity, but these changes are believed to be temporary.
Bhide stated that even though some of these epigenetic changes are long-lasting but only via further research it would be clear that how long the changes will last. This entire research was conducted to know how this bad habit could target the germ cells or changes DNA in the sperm that will affect the future generation.
He said that most of the doctors warn women about the effects of smoking before or during the pregnancy, but they don't consider warning the father of the unborn baby. But now, Bhide believes that "our study brings this to the fore."
