Quitting Smoking | SilverScorpio.Com

Quitting smoking provides immediate benefit to heart

July 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 8 (ANI): Smokers can immediately improve their cardiovascular health by kicking the butt, according to a study.

Researchers at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, NY, say that smoking cessation provides immediate benefits to patients.

They examined specific inflammatory biomarkers associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in “at risk” women during the smoking cessation process.

It was found that smoking cessation resulted in significant reductions in circulating tumour necrosis factor (TNF), soluble TNF receptors I and II, and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1).

Thus, the researchers concluded that there are rapid consequences of smoking cessation on inflammatory biomarkers in women at risk for CVD.

The article has been published in Chest, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians. (ANI)

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Shia Labeouf claims he turns into ‘werewolf’ after drinking

June 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 19 (ANI): Shia LaBeouf has revealed that he was forced to quit drinking whisky because it turned him into a “werewolf”, and now he is thinking of kicking the butt as well.

The ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ actor is seriously considering quitting both drinking and smoking because they have a negative effect on him.

“I had to give up scotch, because it turns me into a werewolf – and cigarettes too. I seem to like to kiss trouble on the forehead and then try to back away. I test my limits quite often. I guess that’s what 22-year-olds do. But I’m fallible and human and I’m figuring it out,” Contactmusic quoted him as saying.

Last July, Shia was injured in a car accident and arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI), but was later cleared.

In fact, the injuries to his head and knee were so severe that it had to be written into the script of the new ‘Transformers’ film.

Last year, the 22-year-old heartthrob set off smoke alarms in a US museum when he lit up a cigarette in the bathroom. (ANI)

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Why some pregnant women find it difficult to quit smoking

May 15, 2009 By admin 2 Comments

Washington, May 15 (ANI): Scientists from Peninsula Medical School and the University of Bristol have discovered a common genetic variant that might make it difficult for women to quit smoking during pregnancy.

They found that variation in 15q24 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene receptor cluster is associated with a reduced ability of women to quit smoking in pregnancy.

For the study, the researchers looked at 7,845 women of European descent from the South West of England.

Using 2,474 women who smoked regularly immediately before they became pregnant, the association between the variant and smoking cessation and smoking quantity during pregnancy was analysed.

When asked about smoking in the first trimester of pregnancy, 28 pct of the women said they had given up.

However, this figure was only 21pct in the group of women with two copies of the smoking addiction gene, whereas in women with two copies of the non-addictive gene, 31pct said they had quit.

In the third trimester, 47pct of women with two copies of the non-addictive gene had stopped smoking, compared with only 34pct of women with two copies of the smoking addiction gene.

“Pregnant women are under considerable health and social pressure to stop smoking, and quitting in such circumstances is influenced by a number of factors including the age of the expectant mother, their education and whether or not their partners smoke,” said Dr. Rachel Freathy from the Peninsula Medical School.

“However, we were keen to investigate whether the genetic variant that influences increased cigarette consumption also had a role to play as an extra hurdle to quitting smoking during pregnancy, and our study suggests that it does,” she added.

The study is published in Human Molecular Genetics. (ANI)

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Now, iPhone’s ‘My QuitLine’ app helps smokers kick the butt

May 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 29 (ANI): Smokers interested in quitting the habit can now get some serious help from their iPhones – a new free application of the smart phone provides a live quitline coach and uses live text to advice on how to kick the butt.

Developed by The George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) and the National Tobacco Cessation Collaborative (NTCC), “My QuitLine” app also provides evidence-based treatment for quitting.

It connects the user to the National Cancer Institute’s quitline service where they speak to a live quitline coach or use live text to get advice on quitting.

GW’s Dr. Lorien Abroms, assistant research professor in the Department of Prevention and Community Health, designed the app with feedback from the NTCC, after reading an NTCC report about the lack of iPhone apps that link smokers to proven therapies.

“Quitline counseling has been shown to double a person’s chance of quitting smoking. It is important to make sure that in these new media environments, people still receive information about what has been proven to work in quitting smoking, and get access to tools that are based on these proven therapies,” said Abroms.

Users can look for the app by searching “My QuitLine” or “quit smoking” on their iPhone or on iTunes.

While the Apple app store has other applications to help people quit smoking, no others use products or services recommended as effective by the 2008 Public Health Service Guideline Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence.

“The My QuitLine app finally gives iPhone users access to an evidence-based method to help them quit smoking. The best part is that it is free and proven to work,” said Todd Phillips, director of the NTCC. (ANI)

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Quitting smoking before 15th week ‘reduces pregnancy risks’

March 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Mar 27 (ANI): Women who stop smoking early enough in pregnancy can cut the risk of having premature or small babies, says a new study.

The British Medical Journal study suggests that pregnant females who do not quit by 15 weeks, are three times more likely to give birth prematurely and twice as likely to have small babies compared to women who have stopped smoking.

According to lead author, Dr Lesley McCowan at the University of Auckland, maternity care providers need to emphasise to women the major benefits of giving up smoking before 15 weeks in pregnancy with the goal of becoming smoke free as early in pregnancy as possible.

To reach the conclusion, authors surveyed over 2,500 pregnant women participating in the SCOPE study in Australia and New Zealand at 15 weeks gestation.

The volunteers were divided into three groups: non smoker, stopped smoker and current smoker. The ‘stopped smoker’ group all gave up before 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The results show that there were no differences between the rates of premature birth between stopped smokers and non-smokers, whereas current smokers had much higher risk. Similar results were revealed for expected baby size.

Another important finding was that women who stopped smoking were not more stressed than women who continued to smoke.

The smoking status of the participants also revealed social and health inequalities. Smokers were more likely to be single mothers, less well educated, unemployed, overweight or underweight. They were more likely to be drinking alcohol and less likely to be taking folic acid at 15 weeks of pregnancy.

In conclusion, the authors say that their “results are of considerable public health importance. The data suggest that the adverse effects of smoking on these late pregnancy outcomes may be largely reversible if smoking is ceased early in pregnancy, offering an important incentive for pregnant women who smoke to become smoke-free early in pregnancy.” (ANI)

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Shovelling down potato chips can increase heart disease risk

February 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, February 14 (ANI): A study conducted in Poland suggests that shovelling down potato chips may increase the risk of heart disease.

Lead researcher Marek Naruszewicz points out that acrylamide from foods may increase the risk of heart disease.

Describing the study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Naruszewicz revealed that acrylamide has been linked previously to nervous system disorders and possibly to cancer.

The researcher said that after ingesting large amounts of potato chips providing about 157 micrograms of acrylamide daily for four weeks, the participants had adverse changes in oxidized LDL, inflammatory markers and antioxidants that help the body eliminate acrylamide-all of which may increase the risk of heart disease.

Naruszewicz conceded that additional research was needed in long-term studies of people consuming typical amounts of acrylamide.

Meanwhile, in the study paper, the researcher has suggested that FDA and the food industry continue to decrease acrylamide in foods by improving food processing technologies.

FDA reports that acrylamide is particularly high in potato chips and French fries.

Dr. Mary Ann Johnson, a spokesperson for the American Society for Nutrition, said: “Consumers can reduce their exposure to acrylamide by limiting their intake of potato chips and French fries, choosing a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low fat meat and dairy products, and quitting smoking, which is a major source of acrylamide.” (ANI)

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Smokeless tobacco may not help smokers kick the butt

January 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Jan 27 (ANI): A new study has cast doubt on the proposal to promote smokeless tobacco as a safer alternative to cigarettes.

Previous studies of smokers in Sweden have suggested that many have quit smoking by switching to smokeless tobacco. While not without health risks, smokeless tobacco is less harmful than cigarettes.

“In Sweden, many smokers have quit smoking by switching to snus,” the British Medical Journal quoted Shu-Hong Zhu, Ph.D., Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine in the UCSD School of Medicine as saying.

Snus is a form of moist, powdered tobacco that comes in a small sachet and is placed under the lip.

“This has piqued a lot of interest, because anything that helps people quit cigarettes could have huge benefits due to the great harm caused by smoking,” Zhu added.

“Historically, there has been no campaign to promote snus to Swedes as a safer alternative to cigarettes,” said Hans Gilljam, M.D. a Professor at the Karolinska Institutet and a study author.

“But snus has been popular among male smokers, and has helped them quit cigarettes. In fact, Swedish men have a higher smoking cessation rate than Swedish women, few of whom use snus,” Gilljam added.

However, public health officials say that smokeless tobacco should not be promoted so fast.

The researchers looked for a similar effect among the U.S. smokers. While, U.S. men are much more likely than women to use smokeless tobacco but it does not boost their rate of quitting smoking.

“With an ongoing tobacco control effort, men in the U.S. seem to be quitting smoking at higher rates than men in Sweden. And U.S. women are quitting at the same rate, unlike their counterparts in Sweden,” Zhu said.

The current study examined data from the Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey, 2002, with one-year follow-up in 2003.

The results showed both male and female smokers in the U.S. appear to have higher quit rates for smoking than their Swedish counterparts, despite greater use of smokeless tobacco in Sweden. (ANI)

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