April 2, 2014

ALSPAC – smoking dads and fat sons

We hear a lot about effects on children of the experiences and choices made by their pregnant mothers – but what about their dads?  Can life experiences and exposures of boys and men affect their future children?

A new study published in the European Journal of Human Genetics investigates links between smoking in boys and men, and BMI and fat mass of their children, using data collected as part of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).

The authors of the study came to the SMC to talk about:

• Does taking up smoking in boyhood affect a male’s future children?
• Is there a similar effect if males take up smoking when older, as men?
• Are boys and girls affected differently?
• What might the mechanism of an effect be?
• What does this mean for the present generation of parents and their children?

Speakers: 

Prof Marcus Pembrey, Emeritus Professor of Paediatric Genetics, UCL, and Visiting Professor, University of Bristol

Dr Kate Northstone, Senior Research Fellow and Acting head of Epidemiological Research, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol

Prof Jean Golding, Emeritus Professor of Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, University of Bristol