About 20 percent of the US adult population is a smoker. If you really want to give up smoking then do it. Research by British scientists shows that smokers who decide to quit immediately, without making plans about how or when, are more likely to succeed. Exposure to second-hand smoke has long-term adverse effects on respiratory health. This reaffirms the benefits of banning smoking in public places.
   Damage to the brain "insula" -- a silver dollar-sized area located deep in the brain, surrounded by the cerebral cortex, disrupts the addiction to cigarette smoking and makes kicking the habit much easier.

Smoking, Folic acid, and B Vitamins
Chronic smoking is associated with a lower body amounts of several B vitamins, reduced oral folic acid, and changes in folate form distribution in the mouth. Arjuna has been tested in smokers with positive benefits on the endothelium.
 

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Alternative Treatment for Smoking Cessation
Acupuncture and Smoking - There is no consistent evidence that acupuncture, acupressure, laser therapy or electrostimulation are effective for smoking cessation, but no firm conclusions can yet be drawn. There could be individuals who are able to stop smoking with acupuncture treatment, but the research is still not fully clear.
Guided imagery may help one quit smoking.
   Moderate exercise, such as walking, reduces the intensity of smokers' nicotine withdrawal symptoms.

St. John's wort herb for smoking cessation - Antidepressants may be effective treatment for smoking cessation and new evidence on relationship between smoking and depression is emerging. Extracts of the St. John's wort plant possess antidepressant activity in humans and reduce nicotine withdrawal signs in mice. St. John's wort may influence several neurotransmitters, including serotonin.

Smoking and Mental Decline
Elderly smokers experience a greater loss in the ability to think, perceive, and remember than people who never smoked or who have quit smoking. The mental decline of elderly smokers may be tied to silent strokes-very small strokes that go unnoticed. Smoking or exposure to cigarette smoke may also be linked to an increased risk of hearing loss.
 

Smoking and Human Health
Smoking can cause a wide range of diseases, including the following:

Cancer - in addition to the toxins found in cigarette smoke, nicotine itself can be a cancer promoter. Cigarette smoking significantly increases the risk of cervical cancer associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16.
Gum disease
Heart disease and heart attack - All forms of tobacco consumption -- smoking, chewing and second hand smoke -- raise the risk of heart attack. Research from Italy provides additional evidence that banning smoking in public places may help prevent heart attacks, at least over the short term. After the Italian government's law against smoking in indoor public spaces took effect in January 2005, hospital admissions for heart attack in the Piedmont region fell 11 percent among people under 60 years old, according to Dr. Francesco Barone-Adesi of the University of Turin.
   Cigarette smokers have stiffer arteries than nonsmokers but suggests these adverse blood vessel changes are reversible with smoking cessation, although it may take more than a decade off cigarettes for the arteries to recover.
Helicobacter pylori infection that cause stomach ulcer
Kidney disease - People with type 2 diabetes who smoke cigarettes are more than twice as likely as non-smokers to have impaired kidney function.
Lung disease and upper respiratory disease. Beneficial bacteria in the nose and throat soon return to normal levels after quitting smoking. Harmless microbes that reside in the nasal passages and throat help prevent disease-causing bacteria from getting a foothold. Levels of these so-call "interfering bacteria" are reduced in smokers.
Smoking may increase the risk of infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Smoking and Blood Vessels
Smoking is known to cause atherosclerosis of not just heart vessels, but also vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the brain. In addition to damaging blood vessels, smoking causes constriction of arteries, clot formation leading to myocardial infarction, oxidation, and raised blood pressure.

Smoking and Cervical Cancer
Cigarette smoking increases a woman's risk of developing cancer of the cervix, and the risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked per day and with the younger the age at which smoking began.

Smoking and Depression
The likelihood of suffering major depression seems to be increased among smokers, especially those who smoke heavily. Researchers in Norway who followed a population-based group of adults for 11 years found that those who smoked were more likely than non-smokers to become depressed, and the risk climbed in tandem with the number of cigarettes smokers puffed each day. Heavy smokers -- those who burned through more than 20 cigarettes a day -- were four times more likely than people who'd never smoked to develop depression. A number of factors the researchers considered -- including physical health, exercise and stressful life events -- failed to explain the link between smoking and later depression. This suggests that smoking may directly contribute to the development of the mood disorder. For instance, nicotine may over time change brain levels of the emotion-related chemical serotonin, which appears to be reduced in people with depression.

Smoking and Impotence
Smoking, often marketed as a symbol of virility, increases the risk of impotence. Men who smoke are up to 40 percent more likely to suffer from impotence than those who don't. The more cigarettes smoked, the greater the risk of suffering from a sexual performance problem. But even men who smoked less than 20 cigarettes a day had a raised risk of impotence.

Smoking and Blood Sugar
Exposure to second-hand smoke can increase a person's risk of developing glucose intolerance, which is a precursor to diabetes. Smokers have the highest risk of developing glucose intolerance but non-smokers who breath in other people's smoke are not far behind. Passive tobacco exposure in never-smokers is a risk factor for glucose intolerance. People suffering from glucose intolerance have elevated blood sugar levels. They still produce insulin but the amounts are insufficient to control blood sugar levels effectively.

Smoking and Cervical Cancer

Women who smoke cigarettes may have a tougher time clearing the HPV virus linked to cervical cancer from their bodies. At least 70 percent of sexually active women will become infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) at some point in their lives. HPV infection is temporary most of the time, but longer-term infection with high-risk strains of the virus is a key factor in the development of precancerous changes in the cervix and of cervical cancer. Smoking has been linked to cervical cancer. Smoking may increase a woman's likelihood of developing a persistent HPV infection by causing immunosuppression in the cervix and taking longer for the HPV to clear the body.

Smoking and Alcohol Use
For alcoholics whose drinking brings on cognitive deficits, smoking seems to retard their cognitive recovery when they go on the wagon. Long-term chronic alcohol drinking of the amount that alcoholics do leads to abnormalities of brain structure, chemistry, and blood flow as well as cognition. Alcoholics may appear to be functioning normally, but cognitive tests will usually reveal abnormalities. So it stands to reason that diminished cognition should reverse itself when alcoholics stop drinking alcohol. But cognitive recovery can be retarded by cigarette smoking, at least during the first month of abstinence from alcohol. Smoking appears to interfere with metabolic brain recovery and cognitive improvement.

Benefit of quitting smoking
Quitting smoking offers health benefits that occur rather quickly, within days or weeks. Some of the benefits of quitting smoking include: Within several hours of quitting, there is a drop in the level of carbon monoxide in the body , while oxygen levels begin to rise back to normal. After several days, taste and smell are enhanced, breathing becomes easier, improvement in blood flow occurs through small arteries and capillaries, and people do not get as tired when doing physical activity. After a few weeks coughing and nasal congestion are reduced or disappear.

Smoking in the USA
Americans smoked fewer cigarettes in 2005 than at any time since 1951, and the nation's per capita consumption of tobacco fell to levels not seen since the early 1930s. Data the federal government gathers when it collects taxes on cigarette sales show a drop of more than 20 percent since tobacco companies reached a legal settlement with the states in 1998.

Smoking in California
A California environmental agency voted in January 2006 to classify tobacco smoke as a "toxic air contaminant," a first-in-the-nation move that could toughen state regulations on cigarette smoke. The designation by California's Air Resources Board starts a process that could lead to further smoking bans in a state that has often led the nation in health and ecological regulation.

Smoking Ban in Colorado

A Colorado city ban on smoking at workplaces and in public buildings may have sparked a steep decline in heart attacks. In the 18 months after a no-smoking ordinance took effect in Pueblo in 2003, hospital admissions for heart attacks for city residents dropped 27 percent, according to a study led by Dr. Carl Bartecchi, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver. "Heart attack hospitalizations did not change significantly for residents of surrounding Pueblo County or in the comparison city of Colorado Springs, neither of which have non-smoking ordinances," said the American Heart Association, which published the study in its journal Circulation. The association said this was further evidence of the damage wrought by secondhand smoke.

Smoking ban in New York
Three years after New York banned smoking in public places, the number of tobacco-related deaths has fallen significantly. A report by the New York city heath department shows that the number of smoking -related deaths recorded each year had fallen from almost 9,000 in 2001 to just under 8,100 in 2005. Most of that decline was due to the impact of reduced smoking on heart disease deaths.
 

Global Smoking Statistic
Global annual deaths from smoking are expected to double to 10 million by 2020 but the real figure could be much higher. The projection may be too low because an international survey of 13-15 year-olds has uncovered an unexpected rise in young female smokers, widespread exposure to second-hand smoke and the use of other tobacco products.

Smoking Ban in Bermuda
A smoking ban in Bermuda's bars and restaurants began in April, 2006 with drinkers who sneak an illegal puff eventually facing fines of $250. The smoking ban also covers shops and other enclosed public places in the mid-Atlantic British territory.

Smoking Ban in Ireland
The rate of heart attacks in Ireland fell by 11 percent in the year following the introduction of the world's first nationwide ban on workplace smoking.
 

Smoking Ban in UK
The decision to ban smoking in England's pubs, clubs and workplaces has already made more people want to kick the habit. The House of Commons voted in February, 2006 to ban smoking in all indoor public spaces and the law could come into effect by mid-2007. A survey of British doctors, released to coincide with No Smoking Day, said the change in law was already having an impact, with one in five GPs reporting an increase in the number of patients asking about quitting. Robert West, director of tobacco studies at Cancer Research UK, said many smokers wanted to give up.

July 2007 - Smoking is no longer allowed in bars, workplaces and public buildings.

Smoking and Race
Among cigarette smokers, African Americans and Native Hawaiians are more susceptible to lung cancer than whites, Japanese Americans, and Latinos.

Smoking and Chemicals in Cigarettes - Deceiving the Public
Scientists and a leading anti-smoking group have called for an overhaul of how toxins in cigarette smoke are measured after industry documents showed how they can be used to deceive smokers. Tar and nicotine content, the cancer-causing and addictive elements of cigarettes is tested on machines. But because of the way people smoke, blocking filters or taking deeper drags on so-called light or mild low tar brands, the levels they receive are actually higher than a machine reading would be. In a review of documents on smoking behavior by Imperial Tobacco Ltd and British American Tobacco, researchers said BAT specifically developed cigarettes knowing this. Industry documents show BAT knew smokers compensated for the low tar, promoted as a safer option, by taking deeper puffs more often. So although cigarette packs say the yields of tar and nicotine based on ISO standard may be only a fraction of the level of regular cigarettes, smokers receive much more. The anti-smoking group ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) described the research published online by the Lancet medical journal as another example of the disgraceful behavior of the tobacco industry. ASH says the measurements of tar and nicotine should be taken off cigarette packaging because they do not provide any meaningful information for consumers.

Smoking Lies by Tobacco Companies

A federal judge ruled in August 2006 that the nation’s top cigarette makers violated racketeering laws, deceiving the public for years about the health hazards of smoking.  U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler stopped short of ordering the companies to pay for a quit-smoking program. The judge did order the companies to publish in newspapers and on their Web sites “corrective statements” on the adverse health effects and addictiveness of smoking and nicotine. The defendants in the federal lawsuit are: Philip Morris USA Inc. and its parent, Altria Group Inc.; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.; Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co.; British American Tobacco Ltd.; Lorillard Tobacco Co.; Liggett Group Inc.; Counsel for Tobacco Research-U.S.A.; and the now-defunct Tobacco Institute. The only cigarette maker excluded from Kessler’s ruling was Liggett.

Smoking and Pregnancy
Children whose mothers smoke during pregnancy may be at risk of becoming overweight by the age of 8. Although prenatal smoking can cause low birth weight, it may raise the odds of excessive weight gain in childhood. Besides low birth weight, prenatal smoking has been shown to raise the risk of miscarriage, premature delivery and other pregnancy complications.
   Babies of smokers have levels of the nicotine byproduct cotinine in their urine that are several times higher than babies of non-smokers.

How to Quit Smoking
Counseling smokers over the telephone helps them kick the habit. A study, led by Lawrence An of the University of Minnesota, attempted to determine if "quit lines" offered benefits. A group of military veterans who had committed themselves to quit smoking within 30 days received telephone counseling -- about seven calls over a two-month period -- while a separate group of smokers was sent self-help materials. In all, the study included about 800 participants. After three months, nearly 40 percent of those receiving calls from counselors had not smoked in the previous seven days, compared with 10 percent of the control group. Over the long haul, cigarettes proved a tough habit to break. After one year just 13 percent of those counseled by phone and 4 percent in the other group had not smoked during the previous six months.
   Over the past decade, bupropion has become a major pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation in the Western world. Unlike other smoking cessation pharmacotherapies, bupropion is a non-nicotine treatment.
   Want to quit smoking? Try the gym. Smokers who combine exercise with nicotine gum or transdermal patches are more likely to quit than those who rely on nicotine replacement therapy alone. The study was conducted at Otto Wagner Hospital and Lainz Hospital in Austria.

Smoking Stopper?
FDA announced in May 2006 the approval of Chantix ( varenicline tartrate ) tablets, to help cigarette smokers stop smoking. The active ingredient in Chantix, varenicline tartrate, is a new molecular entity that received a priority FDA review because of its significant potential benefit to public health. Chantix acts at sites in the brain affected by nicotine and may help those who wish to give up smoking in two ways: by providing some nicotine effects to ease the withdrawal symptoms and by blocking the effects of nicotine from cigarettes if they resume smoking.
   Cytisine is a prescription medicine available for the treatment of smoking addiction. A cytisine derivative varenicline was approved in 2006 as a smoking cessation drug.

Legal Implications of Smoking
In March, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a $50 million punitive damages award against Altria Group Inc's Philip Morris unit in the case of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer. The lawsuit against the tobacco company was filed in California state court by Richard Boeken, who said he smoked two packs of Marlboro cigarettes a day for decades. Diagnosed with lung cancer in 1999, he was 57 when he died in 2002. A jury in Los Angeles awarded Boeken a record $3 billion in punitive damages and $5.5 million in compensatory damages. The trial judge then reduced the punitive damages award to $100 million. A California appeals court last year further reduced the punitive damages award to $50 million, and both Philip Morris and Boeken's widow appealed to the Supreme Court. Philip Morris told the high court it cannot be held liable under state law for failing to provide additional warnings about the dangers of smoking, beyond what is required under the federally mandated warning labels on cigarette packs. The Supreme Court rejected the appeal without any comment or recorded dissent.

Passive Smoking

Eliminating exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke could reduce the number of deaths related to heart disease in the United States by more than 20,000 a year. The risk from passive smoking is currently estimated to be equivalent to actively smoking one cigarette per day.

Smoking from Water Pipes
Water pipes and smokeless tobacco products have gained in popularity among young people worldwide. Those smoking flavored tobacco through water pipes, once predominant in the Middle East and now found in trendy cafes across Europe and North America, inhale dangerous amounts of carbon monoxide, nicotine and tar. Excessive waterpipe smoking can cause lung disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Second Hand Smoke

The U.S. Surgeon General published comprehensive information about secondhand smoke. The Health
Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke has six major conclusions:

1. Many millions of Americans, both children and adults, are still exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes and workplaces despite substantial progress in tobacco control.

2. Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death among children and adults who do not smoke.

3. Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma. Smoking by parents causes respiratory symptoms and slows lung growth in their children.

4. Exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer.

5. No risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke has been established.

6. Eliminating smoking in indoor spaces fully protects nonsmokers from exposure to secondhand smoke. Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate
exposures of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.

Smoking ban in Congress
January 2007 - Declaring an end to "smoke-filled rooms" in the U.S. Capitol, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said smoking would be banned from an ornate meeting area just off the floor of the House of Representatives. In just her second week in power following the Democrats' takeover of Congress, Pelosi put an immediate ban in place in the Speaker's Lobby saying, "Medical science has unquestionably established the dangerous effects of secondhand smoke, including an increased risk of cancer and respiratory diseases."The Speaker's Lobby was one of the few remaining places in the Capitol where smoking was permitted.

Smoking questions
Q. Would taking lipoic acid or coq10 reduce the damage from smoking?
   A. I have not seen such studies but my guess would be that perhaps lipoic acid could be somewhat helpful, but less so for coq10.

Q. Do you think resveratrol would help lung tissue if i'm smoking half a pack a day?
   A. I have not seen any research regarding the influence of resveratrol in smokers.

Q. I read a study that said those who partially quit smoking are just as likely to have health problems as those who continue smoking full force. This does not make sense to me.
   A. It does not make sense to me either, perhaps the researchers were not able to statistically pick the minor improvements in health status in those who reduced their smoking.