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Smoking harms more people than you think. New research reveals that women who smoke during pregnancy can seriously impeded the growth of their future grandchildren.

New research reveals that paternal grandmothers who smoked during pregnancy were more likely to have taller granddaughters and grandchildren with greater bone mass and lean muscle mass. This is only true if the mother did not smoke.

The study also found that maternal grandmothers who smoked during pregnancy were more likely to have heavier adolescent grandsons. These grandsons were also more likely to have greater lean mass, grip strength and cardiovascular fitness.

Girls with grandmother and mother smokers were also significantly more likely to be shorter and lighter than other girls whose mothers, but not grandmothers, smoked.

"These likely transgenerational effects from the grandmothers' smoking in pregnancy need to be taken into account in future studies of the effects of maternal smoking on child growth and development.  If replicated, such studies could be a useful model for the molecular analysis of human transgenerational responses," senior author Professor Marcus Pembrey said in a news release.

The latest findings were published in the American Journal of Human Biology.