Smoking, a significant component that contributes to indoor air pollution, is understood to cause health issues like respiratory infections, asthma attacks and lung cancer in children. But what about emissions from the cooking stove? A recent study has revealed a link between exposure to unclean cooking fuels and development delays in children.

Clean fuel refers to energy sources that emit negligible amounts of carbon during combustion. In cooking, using microwave, electricity and solar energy is taken into account clean sources, while natural gas, propane or wood are considered dirty or unclean fuel.

Researchers from the University at Buffalo evaluated 4,735 mother-child pairs enrolled between 2008 and 2010 within the Upstate KIDS study, a big population birth cohort. The team followed up on the event milestones of the youngsters until the age of three based on aspects equivalent to communication, gross and tremendous motor skills, personal-social and problem-solving abilities.

The exposure to indoor air pollution while pregnant and on the age of 4 months, 12 months, and 36 months were assessed based on self-reported data.

“Unclean cooking fuel exposure from pregnancy to 36 months of age increased the percentages of failing any developmental domain by 28%, the gross motor domain by 52%, and the personal-social domain by 36%. Researchers observed significant associations of unclean cooking with failing any domains and specific domains amongst infants of young moms, singletons (pregnancy with one baby) and male infants, but not amongst infants of older moms, non-singletons or female infants,” researchers said in a news release.

The team found that 21.5% of girls were exposed to passive smoke while pregnant, while 14.2% were energetic smokers while pregnant. The study revealed a positive association between passive smoke exposure and failing the problem-solving domain amongst nonsmokers.

“Passive smoking or secondhand smoking can be a vital source of indoor air pollution and mustn’t be ignored. Passive smoke comprises toxicants, equivalent to lead, that may harm kid’s development,” said Kexin Zhu, co-first creator of the study.

“Exposure to unclean cooking fuel and passive smoke while pregnant and in adolescence is related to developmental delays in children. While cigarette smoke is understood to be harmful while pregnant, cooking fuel will not be viewed the identical way,” noted Alexandra Grippo, first creator of the study.

“Gas stoves are a principal contributor to indoor carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide levels, with some families using them multiple times a day. Infants and young children spend more time indoors and are particularly vulnerable to indoor pollutants because they should not fully developed,” Grippo added.

Published by Medicaldaily.com