Those of you who have vowed to give up smoking in the new year are finding out firsthand that quitting is a bitch. In fact, most ex-smokers will tell you that giving up the habit is the hardest thing they've ever done. If, like me, you never started the nicotine habit, you're probably thinking you've dodged a bullet. Not so fast: Scientists out of New Zealand are insisting that sugar and other refined carbohydrates are as addictive as tobacco.

"Drug addicts have to keep taking larger amounts of their chemical of choice," says Simon Thornley of the Auckland Public Health Authority. "They find it difficult to stop, they keep doing it despite negative consequences and they feel depressed if they do stop. People do all those things around refined carbohydrates."

So are we going to start seeing grotesque photos and huge health warnings on packets of Twinkies any time soon? Will sweets be stashed behind the counter at stores, available only to those with valid ID? More research is needed, but I'd say it's a definite possibility.

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There are certainly a million plus reasons to quit smoking: the smell, the cancer risks, the heart disease, etc ... But now there is a new one! If you want to have plastic surgery on your face (and if you've smoked for a long time ... you probably want to), your doctor may insist that you quit before she'll do the procedure. Smoking interferes with the healing process.

This article tells the tale of a woman who repeatedly tried to quit smoking with no success. Until! That is ... her purpose for quitting was vanity. Hooray for that! I don't honestly care what she does with her face, I'm just grateful to have one less smoker in the world. I'm also thrilled that doctors have found a legitimately convincing way to get people to stop.

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Genetics may be to blame for hooking some people on cigarettes. Genetics may make some smokers more prone to lung cancer too, say three new studies. This is the strongest case so far for the biological foundation of nicotine addiction.

Scientists have pinpointed genetic variations related to smoking that could one day lead to screening tests and customized treatments for those trying to kick the habit.

The gene variations, which govern nicotine receptors on cells, could help explain some of the mysteries of chain smoking, nicotine addiction, and lung cancer -- like why a 90-year-old lifetime smoker never gets cancer, why some people can occasionally light up and never get hooked, and why some people have such a hard time quitting.

Initially, researchers are pretty certain that a smoker who inherits these genetic variations from both parents has an 80 percent greater chance of lung cancer than a smoker without the variants. That same smoker tends to light up two extra cigarettes a day and has a much harder time quitting than smokers who don't have these genetic differences.

The three studies, funded by U.S. and European governments and published Thursday in the journals Nature and Nature Genetics, looked at more than 35,000 white people of European descent in Europe, Canada, and the United States. Blacks and Asians will be studied soon.

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A study from the University of Pennsylvania this week said that in study subjects -- who smoked -- which were deprived of nicotine ended up showing activated levels of craving activity in their brains related to cravings.

In other words, just like those "Cravings" for chocolate or any other vice, smokers may have a "craving" for nicotine that could overwhelm the logic of "I don't need to smoke" and into the emotion of "I need my next fix" -- or something similar.

Combined with the psychological effects of those who crave cigarettes, this study is one of the first to show the physical effects of such a craving and how, neurologically, the brain can indeed effect the need for that next smoke.

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A U.S. study this week found that giving smokers cigarettes with decreasing amounts of nicotine -- over time -- made it easier for them to curb their nicotine addiction.

As with all drugs, gradual declines are better for most than a "cold turkey" approach of rapid cessation.

Would you be willing to try smoking cigarettes with a gradual lowering of nicotine levels if it meant the pain of quitting was lessened quite a bit? To many smokers, that would be a welcome way to try and stop quitting.

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It's amazing what lengths people will go to get their smoking fix these days, especially considering that there are fewer and fewer public places that allow smoking indoors. Here's an option that lets smokers get their nicotine fix inside -- even in non-smoking establishments. It's a "smokeless" cigarette. Well, actually it's a plastic stick with a nicotine "nico-filter" inside and a battery operated atomizer. The tip glows red, little fake puffs of smoke come off the end, and the user gets their nicotine fix without any tar or chemicals.

So that's the up side. The down side is that they're fairly expensive (10 for a pack of 6 replacements) and for some they could be deceptively unsafe: there may not be smoke to inhale but the nicotine is still an important (and unhealthy) part of the addiction.


Via FitSugar

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Where I live, Hookah bars are lined up out the door on a Friday or Saturday night. The Indian practice of smoking from a Hookah is really trendy recently, and though I'm not a smoker, I can see the appeal -- hanging out in a Middle Eastern-themed cafe is at least something different from the usual bar scene here. Besides, it's not like sitting in a smoky bar; at a Hookah bar, the smoke smells nicer, and it's less invasive.

Fitsugar recently did a post on which is more detrimental to your health -- smoking from a hookah or smoking cigarettes. The surprising answer? Hookahs are worse for you, because not only does the smoke have the same amount of chemicals and nicotine, but those who smoke it are likely to smoke much more -- up to the equivalent of 400 cigarettes in one night. Good grief!

So the moral of the story? Don't get too into the Hookah scene -- it can be harmful to your health. And even though you're not smoking cigarettes, you're still doing yourself just as much harm with the Hookah.

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So many girls and young women are still smoking and even taking up smoking, despite all health problems it's been proven to cause. Why? The only reason I can think of is the glamorization of smoking -- it seems to be what the pretty, thin girls do, particularly from a high-schoolers point of view. Here's an new anti-smoking video I recently came across, one which tries to appeal to more to a woman's vanity than her health. Take a look.



What do you think? Will the promise of lack-luster skin appeal more to young women than the chance that they might develop health problem later in life?

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The neurological disorder that manifests itself as Parkinson's Disease could be assisted by way of nicotine ingestion, according to new research released this week.

In the research, monkeys (a genetic cousin to humans) were given nicotine inside of a beverage and then were treated with traditional drug treatments for Parkinson's Disease. The result: tremors and involuntary movements were decreased by 50 percent.

In addition to being given nicotine before drug treatments began, the monkey group was also given the addictive substance after traditional Parkinson's treatments had begun. In those cases, a 35 percent reduction in dyskinesias (involuntary movements) was witnessed.

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According to this, smokers who are trying to kick the nicotine habit need to be treated like addicts hooked on a drug like heroin. Doctors say that those trying to quit smoking need to be given a product that provides a hit of nicotine as strong as one they'd get from a cigarette, much the same way that heroin addicts use methadone to quit that drug.

The article points out some scary statistics -- 100 million people died in the last century due to the negative effects of smoking cigarettes, 150 million will likely die over the next 20 years and a whopping 1 billion people are projected to die of smoking-related causes in the 21st century.

Unfortunately, those who want to quit only have access to products like nicotine gum or the patch, which deliver low doses of the drug, rather than the kind of fix a smoker would get from a cigarette. The solution? The piece mentions that better cigarette substitutes need to be developed to give smokers a better chance of kicking the habit.

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New research released this week looked closely at the signs and symptoms of nicotine withdrawal and pinpointed brain mechanisms linked to dependence on the chemical as well as anxiety over the stopping of its use.

The study in this situation was done on a rat population, but even so may lead to drugs or treatments (or both) that could lead to more effective treatments in the future for smokers.

The brain system involved with anxiety and craving was stimulated heavily by nicotine withdrawal, which helps explains why it is so hard to quit for many smokers. Smokers often relapse long after stopping smoking because of the long-term effects nicotine has on that area of the brain, according to the research.

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Almost every smoker I know started when they were a teenager. I started in high school, and it took me seven years, plus a couple very painful months in my early 20s to finally kick the habit.

Subsequently, it's always frightening to read that a common habit or set of habits leads kids to lighting up.

Like this study, for instance, that found teenage girls who start dieting are almost twice as likely to start smoking as their non-dieting peers. Boys are slightly less at-risk, as it's only inactive dieters (who try, but don't stick with their diets) that form a nicotine habit.

Some other interesting facts within this research are that, of the 55 percent of girls who tried or were actively dieting, less than half were overweight. Also, those girls who had access to cigarettes in their home were more likely to pick up the habit.

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According to new research smokers need to be especially conscious of knee pain, as it could be an early indicator of lung cancer. In a small study looking at patients with both knee inflammation and pain, a small percentage (only 2%) were also found to have non-small cell lung cancer. Now that may sound like an extremely small number, but consider this: of that 2% that had both knee pain and cancer all of them were smokers.

Non-small cell lung cancer is very difficult to treat unless it's caught in the early stages, so getting this clue that knee pain could be an indicator could really help save lives.

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When I lived in the UK, I was a smoker, and -- having grown up in the US -- I was always surprised by the frankness of their cigarette warnings. Some were quite scary, such as: "Smoking Causes Impotence." Others got straight to the point, and state simply: "Smoking Kills."

Of course, these statements are entirely accurate, and are both great examples of why you shouldn't take up smoking (I've since quit, by the way). However, the British government doesn't feel that they're strong enough, and will be adding full-color graphics to the back of cigarette packets by the end of 2009.

The BBC has posted all the warnings on their website, including photos of black lungs, sick babies, enormous tumors and dead people -- all accompanied by the same, straightforward messages that are used currently.

I don't know if this will be any more effective than the government's current strategy, but I'd certainly hate to look at that every time I went to light up.

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What if somebody said you could get your nicotine fix, just as fast and just as effectively as smoking, but without the smoking? Next Safety Inc., a new company based in North Carolina, says it can do just that with a new device it's hoping will be approved for use soon. It's a small machine that allows users to inhale nicotine directly, which provides for faster and more direct brain absorption than nicotine gums and patches do.

As of now the device is still in the testing stages and waiting for FDA approval, but it looks like it might be the next big thing. Will you be on board if it comes to a pharmacy near you?


Via Engadget

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