A study carried among more than 400 pregnant women revealed that smokers who became pregnant reduced their smoking by an average of one cigarette per day before realizing they were pregnant. As per the study published in the journal Addiction Biology, these women then cut back on smoking by an additional four cigarettes per day.
‘Our findings suggest that pregnancy could curb smokers’ desire to smoke before they are even aware of having conceived. While recognition of pregnancy is a common motivation to reduce or quit smoking, if biological processes in early pregnancy are also involved as suggested by this study, identifying precisely what these processes are can lead to the development of new smoking-cessation medications,’ said study’s lead author and principal investigator, Dr. Suena Huang Massey, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences and medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine psychiatrist.
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The new study support a new line of research into what happens biologically during pregnancy that might be interrupting addictive behaviours.
As per studies, carbon monoxide can prevent the developing baby from getting enough oxygen. Smoking during pregnancy causes tissue damage in the unborn child, especially in the lungs and brain. Mothers who smoke are more likely to deliver their babies prematurely. This is the leading cause of death, disability and disease among newborns.
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