Tobacco-smoking moms and dads increase diabetes risk for children in utero

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-02/uoc--tma020615.php

Public Release: 9-Feb-2015
University of California - Davis

Children exposed to tobacco smoke from their parents while in the womb are predisposed to developing diabetes as adults, according to a study from the University of California, Davis and the Berkeley nonprofit Public Health Institute.

In the study, published Feb. 9 in the Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, women whose mothers smoked while pregnant were two to three times as likely to be diabetic as adults. Dads who smoked while their daughter was in utero also contributed to an increased diabetes risk for their child, but more research is needed to establish the extent of that risk.

"Our findings are consistent with the idea that gestational environmental chemical exposures can contribute to the development of health and disease," said lead author Michele La Merrill, an assistant professor of environmental toxicology at UC Davis.

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