A new study has revealed that smoking among teenage males leads to damage in the genes of their future children, increasing their chances of asthma, obesity, and impaired lung function.
This research marks the first human study to uncover the biological mechanism behind the impact of teenage fathers’ smoking on their children.
Conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton and the University of Bergen in Norway, this study involved 875 individuals ranging in age from 7 to 50 years and examined their fathers’ smoking behaviours.
The researchers identified changes in 19 sites associated with 14 genes in the children of fathers who began smoking before the age of 15.
Dr. Cecilie Svanes, who supervised the research at the University of Bergen, explained, “The changes in the markers were more pronounced in children whose fathers began smoking during adolescence, compared to those whose fathers began smoking at any time before conception.”
The results serve as a warning to teenagers that “the health of future generations depends on the actions and decisions they make today, long before they become parents.”
