No more is it a question whether the unborn child will be affected or harmed by the mother smoking or any other forms of nicotine intake but more a question of the number, degree, types, lifetime impact and notice ability of the harms that are inflicted. At the minimum level it unnaturally regulates the pre birth flow of greater than two hundred odd neurochemicals like serotonin, adrenalin and dopamine in the unborn babies mind and body. Researchers have now been able to show that a mother smoking before, during and after her own pregnancy can be the cause of her own daughter’s fertility levels reducing by almost two-thirds. For those women who are pregnant with girls, cigarette smoking and other forms of nicotine intake along with all its toxins significantly lowers the total count of eggs the daughter has and the possible success of fertility treatments when she does have problems.
A team at a hospital in Toronto conducted an investigation on the impact of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAH which is a by product of smoking. PAH’s are all kinds of environmental pollutions that are found in car exhaust, cigarette smoke, the smoke that is produced by combustion of fossil fuel and also in all types of smoked foods. This investigation was conducted on mice. The results indicated that the mice that were exposed did not have lesser pups but the female offspring had seventy percent lesser follicles to help produce egg thus, limiting the possibilities of the daughter being able to reproduce. Hence the key result is that women should quit smoking before they even think of getting pregnant. Although studies have not been able to identify the time length between those who quit smoking and the increase in fertility levels, research has shown that those women who quit smoking a year ago have a better chance with in vitro fertilization.
One theory is that smoking tends to affect the fallopian tubes or the follicles. Resveratrol is an antioxidant found in grape skins and wines which when injected into the mice that were affected by PAH exposure, immediately showed signs of improvement and it prevented the lowering of the egg follicles. However, it does not mean that women who smoke can use the glass of wine as a nutritional supplement to reverse the damage done by cigarette smoking. An important point to note is that the effects of the mother smoking during pregnancy are not only limited to her female children. It can also affect the sperm count of her male offspring.