What happens when pregnant women smoke cigarettes?

When pregnant women smoke, they expose their developing babies to a host of addictive, harmful chemicals. In this episode, Marshall Brain explains how nicotine and other compounds found in cigarettes affect developing fetuses.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Streaming TV shows and movies directly to your home is
a breeze with Netflix. As a Netflix member, you can
instantly watch TV and movies on your PC, Mac, mobile device,
or television. Get a free thirty day trial membership. Go
to Netflix dot com, slash stuff and sign up today.
Welcome to Brainstuff from house stuff works dot com where
smart happens. Hi Marshall Brain with today's question, what happens

(00:31):
when pregnant women smoke cigarettes? By now, most people can
agree that smoking is not such a great idea for anyone.
It's pretty easy to come up with a list of
all the health problems that can afflict people who smoke cigarettes,
including sinus problems, difficulty breathing, and eventually emphysema, cancer, increased
risk of heart disease, increased risk of stroke, and so on.

(00:54):
Most of the damage caused by cigarette smoking doesn't appear
for years or decades, though, making a difficult to convince
smokers to give up their habit until it's too late. However,
when a pregnant woman smokes, the nicotine and other compounds
found in tobacco pose both an immediate and an extended
threat to the health of her developing child. These dangers

(01:15):
include increased risk of miscarriage, increased risk of sudden infant
death syndrome, premature birth, low birth weight, behavioral problems like hyperactivity,
and reduced verbal and mathematical ability. Many chemicals, including nicotine,
can readily move from the mother's blood stream into the
fetal blood supply. This is why physicians are so cautious

(01:38):
about what over the counter and prescription drugs women take
when they're expecting a child. When a pregnant woman inhales
cigarette smoke, she exposes herself and her fetus to things like,
first of all, nicotine. If you smoke while pregnant, your
child will be exposed to almost the same level of
nicotine as you. That means that once he or she

(01:58):
is born and is no longer getting nicotine intravenously, the
symptoms of nicotine withdrawal will likely set in. Nicotine also
affects the wiring of the developing brain, depending on when
during brain development, exposure occurs. Nicotine can reduce the number
of neurons in a brain region or change the way

(02:19):
the neurons signal each other. Neither of these options is
particularly appetizing when you think about it. Then, there's cyanide.
Cyanide prevents cells from using oxygen for various metabolic processes,
and it's one of the most deadly poisons around. There's
also carbon monoxide in the smoke. That's another poison that
diminishes the oxygen reaching the fetus. There's cadmium, found in

(02:41):
rechargeable batteries. This heavy metal damages your kidneys. Without proper
filtration and excretion by the kidneys, waste products from different
cellular processes build up in your blood. There's also arsenic,
another heavy metal that interferes with the conversion of food
to fuel inside your cells, and formaldehyde, which locks proteins

(03:02):
in a rigid formation. With the exception of nicotine, which
scientists know is a major problem, it's not thought that
there's enough of any of these other chemicals in cigarette
smoke to cause severe damage to either the smoker or
the baby. It's more likely that all of these compounds
in combination have the net effect of messing things up

(03:23):
in lots of small ways. This may be one reason
why baby is born to smokers are smaller than average
for more illness, and thousands of other topics. Does that
house stuff works? Dot com? And don't forget to check
out the brain Stuff blog on the house stuff works
dot com home page. You can also follow brain Stuff
on Facebook or Twitter at brain stuff HSW. This episode

(03:48):
of brain Stuff is brought to you by Linda dot Com.
Linda dot Com offers thousands of engaging, easy to follow
video tutorials taught by industry experts to help you learn software,
creative and business skills. Membership starts at twenty five dollars
a month and provides unlimited seven access tri Linda dot
Com free for seven days by visiting Linda dot com
slash brain Stuff