Smokers' children and grandchildren suffer from a decline in their level of intelligence

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The children and grandchildren of smokers may suffer from a marked decline in their IQ and mental abilities, scientists said.

The journal PLoS Biology published an article on a study by Pradeep Behidi of the University of Florida in Tallahassee, USA, that Behidi and his research team discovered an unusual relationship between bad habits and the lives of future generations, humans and animals, observing the adverse effects of small doses of nicotine on men Laboratory mice and their offspring.

For this, scientists used two groups of laboratory mice: the first group drank 12 weeks of normal water and the second nicotine solution, a dose equivalent to that of a moderate daily smoker's body .

These males were then married to female rats who had never inhaled tobacco smoke or taken pure nicotine and monitored the growth of their young. They then married the boys with a new generation of women and also witnessed the growth of young people. Scientists note that they observed serious deviations in the intellectual development of the next two generations. The "children and grandchildren of smokers" have long considered how to get out of the labyrinth compared to "children and grandchildren of non-smokers".

According to the scientists' hypothesis, these changes are associated with serious changes in the concentration of dopamine, fungal hormones and a number of molecules in the brain of these mice. These abnormalities are in turn related to the emergence of additional genetic markers on the surface of the genes that control the action of dopamine receptors in the DNA of the father or grandfather.

Scientists believe that these findings suggest that similar changes are occurring in the bodies of children and grandchildren of human smokers. Tests will be conducted soon to confirm it.