March 30, 2015
Ultrasound Reveals What Happens to a Fetus When the Mom Smokes
As if we needed more reasons to quite smoking! Ultrasound photos from a small study out of Durham University and Lancaster University revealed that fetuses with smoking moms “touch their [faces] and [mouths] much more than fetuses of nonsmoking mothers.”
Researches believe that this could be the result of the cigarette smoke having an affect on the development of the central nervous system.
The fetuses involved in the study were (thankfully) all born healthy. The 4 fetuses carried by women who smoked 14 cigarettes a day showed the most facial movements, moving slightly more than the fetuses carried by women suffering from depression.
Dr. Nadja Reissland, lead author of the study, noted that the study seems to have isolated a new connection between mother and baby. She said, "these results point to the fact that nicotine exposure per se has an effect on fetal development over and above the effects of stress and depression." This finding was echoed by fellow author Brian Francis when he said, "Technology means we can now see what was previously hidden, revealing how smoking affects the development of the fetus in ways we did not realise."
Now that they have everyone's attention, and some pretty alarming evidence, the team hopes to conduct a larger scale study (the original had only 20 participants) in order to form real and concrete conclusions about smoking during pregnancy.
Have a look for yourself. The top row of photos shows the fetuses with smoking mothers. Unsettling, to say the least!
h/t: Elite Daily
The fetuses involved in the study were (thankfully) all born healthy. The 4 fetuses carried by women who smoked 14 cigarettes a day showed the most facial movements, moving slightly more than the fetuses carried by women suffering from depression.
Dr. Nadja Reissland, lead author of the study, noted that the study seems to have isolated a new connection between mother and baby. She said, "these results point to the fact that nicotine exposure per se has an effect on fetal development over and above the effects of stress and depression." This finding was echoed by fellow author Brian Francis when he said, "Technology means we can now see what was previously hidden, revealing how smoking affects the development of the fetus in ways we did not realise."
Now that they have everyone's attention, and some pretty alarming evidence, the team hopes to conduct a larger scale study (the original had only 20 participants) in order to form real and concrete conclusions about smoking during pregnancy.
Have a look for yourself. The top row of photos shows the fetuses with smoking mothers. Unsettling, to say the least!
h/t: Elite Daily