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A leading neuroscientist has claimed that smoking and drug use during pregnancy could raise the chance of having a baby who would turn out to be gay.
According to Britain’s Sunday Times, Dr Dick Swabb, professor of neurobiology at Amsterdam University, said that the brain development during pregnancy and early childhood is directly linked to the kind of people we become in adulthood.
Dr Swabb’s new book, ‘We Are Our Brains,’ has cited multiple academic studies showing how a pregnant mother’s lifestyle can possibly affect her child, News.com.au reported. (Read: What NOT to do during pregnancy – 10 things to avoid!)
One of the studies compared women whose moms were given synthetic oestrogen while they were pregnant between 1939 and 1960 in order to cut the miscarriage risk.
Dr Swabb said that pre-birth exposure to both nicotine and amphetamines boosts the chance of lesbian daughters.
He said that pregnant women suffering from stress are likelier to have homosexual kids of both genders as their raised level of the stress hormone cortisol affects the production of foetal sex hormones.
Other effects of smoking during pregnancy
We will give you some more reasons expectant mothers need to kick the butt:
Smoking makes your baby’s brain smaller
According to a study, smoking during pregnancy can lead to babies with smaller brains which make them more prone to stress and anxiety. The reason behind it, scientists suspect, is that smoking affects the development of foetus by destroying neurons and reducing oxygen supply to the womb.
Smoking is likely to give your baby meningitis
According to British researchers, smoking during pregnancy trebles the chances of the baby developing meningitis. Meningitis is caused by an infection of the protective membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
Smoking leads to low weight babies
According to the findings of a research conducted in Spain, it was found that women who smoked during pregnancy gave birth to lighter babies. A research was conducted on 1,216 newly born babies and it was seen that such babies were lighter by 216 grams on an average. For those who don’t know, babies born with low birth weight are likely to suffer from malnutrition, developmental disorders, learning disabilities, heart-related issues and a host of other conditions. (Read more: Five ways smoking during pregnancy can harm your baby)
With inputs from ANI
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