Tag-Archive for ◊ Stop Smoking ◊

Stop Smoking to Save Your Skin
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• Monday, November 14th, 2011

There is one more reason to quit smoking. Researchers from Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands report that the habit substantially increases one’s risk of developing a common form of skin cancer called squamous cell carcinoma.

“Everybody realizes that sun exposure is a risk for skin cancer, but almost no one knows that smoking is also an important, and independent, risk factor,” according to study co-author, Jan Nico Bouwes Bavinck, MD.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the U.S., with approximately 1.2 million new cases diagnosed every year. Malignant melanoma is the most deadly form of the disease, but it accounts for only about 5% of all cases. Much more common are the nonmelanoma skin cancers, the group that includes squamous cell carcinoma.

Squamous cell carcinoma is the second-most common type of skin cancer in the U.S, accounting for approximately 16% of all skin cancers. Although the cure rate for squamous cell carcinoma is about 95%, it still kills about 2,000 Americans each year.

Skin expert Robert M. Tornambe, MD, tells that the study results are somewhat weakened because the Dutch investigators looked specifically at the smoking habits of people who already had skin cancer, instead of designing a study to predict who would develop skin cancer in the future. Still, the findings are convincing enough to offer another good reason to stop smoking, he says — or not to start at all.

“Besides all the other effects of smoking, there’s a good chance that you have a higher risk of getting skin cancer, says Tornambe, chief of plastic surgery at Cabrini Medical Center in New York City. “More importantly, the treatment can be complicated by smoking as well” — because smoking constricts blood vessels and slows healing.

For the study, the Leiden University investigators looked at the smoking history of 740 people with skin cancer, including 161 people with squamous cell carcinoma. For comparison, they also collected similar information on 386 individuals with no history of skin cancer.

The researchers found that smokers were 3.3 times more likely and ex-smokers 1.9 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma. As the number of cigarettes and pipes smoked increased, so did the risk of cancer. Smoking did not appear to increase the risk of developing the other types of skin cancer examined, and smoking cigars did not appear to increase the risk of any type of skin cancer. The study is published in the January 2001 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

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Men Five Times More Likely to Smoke than Women in Indonesia
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• Thursday, March 03rd, 2011

LONDON, KOMPAS.com - Millions of women in developing countries risk disease and early death in the coming decades as their rising economic and political status leads them to smoke more, researchers said on Tuesday.

An analysis in 74 countries found that men are five times more likely to smoke than women in countries with lower rates of female empowerment, such as China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Uganda.

In countries with relatively high female empowerment, such as Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden and the United States, this gap is small and women smoke almost as much as men do. Douglas Bettcher, director of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) tobacco free initiative, said the findings showed the need for authorities to act quickly to curb smoking rates among women, particularly in poorer countries.

“The tobacco epidemic is still in its early stages in many countries but is expected to worsen,” he said in a statement with the study, which was published in the WHO journal Bulletin. “Strong tobacco control measures such as bans on tobacco advertising are needed to prevent the tobacco industry from targeting women.”

Tobacco kills up to half its users and is described by the WHO “one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced”. The annual death toll linked to tobacco is more than five million, experts say, and could rise beyond eight million by 2030 unless action is taken to control smoking.

According to the study, it is estimated that men smoke nearly five times as much as women worldwide, but the ratios of female-to-male smoking prevalence rates vary dramatically. In China, for example, 61 percent of men are reported to be current smokers, compared with 4.2 percent of women, while in many rich nations roughly equal numbers of men and women smoke.

Women’s empowerment is measured by the United Nations Development Programme using data such as representation in parliament, voting rights and comparisons of male and female income.

“Our study makes a strong case for implementing gender-specific tobacco control activities … such as more higher tobacco taxes, more prominent graphic health warnings, smoke-free laws, and advertising and promotion bans,” said Geoffrey Fong from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, who led Tuesday’s study.

Fellow researcher Sara Hitchman said authorities should look closely at “the ways in which the tobacco industry is capitalising on societal changes to target women, such as marketing cigarettes to women as a symbol of emancipation”.

The researchers also said a useful step could be to monitor how price and tax measures affect uptake of smoking among women in countries where tobacco is not yet widely used by them.

“Further research into patterns of uptake could help governments take more effective action and reduce adoption rates for smoking among women in the future,” said Hitchman.

 

http://english.kompas.com/read/2011/03/02/21512080/Men.Five.Times.More.Likely.to.Smoke.than.Women.in.Indonesia

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What about smoking?
Author:
• Friday, January 14th, 2011

Erectile dysfunction, also commonly known as ED, is described as the inability to achieve or maintain an erection during the act of sexual intercourse. In the United States, ED affects one in five men, and more and more research is being published today identifying key causes in ED. Traditionally, ED was thought to be an issue of the metabolic system, and was linked to the cardiovascular system. As more research comes to light however, studies are showing consistently that lifestyle factors such as smoking and substance abuse are the leading causes in more than 25% of cases involving erectile dysfunction.

When it comes to the main problem of ED, getting or maintaining an erection, a healthy blood flow is crucial. In order for the penis to even become erect, blood flow through its major arteries is necessary. Any process or experience that interferes with blood flow in your body then, will also interfere with blood flow to the penis, and you may experience some issues with ED. While it is fairly common knowledge that smoking is an unhealthy lifestyle choice, that it creates obvious harm to your lungs and respiratory system, you may not be aware of its effect on your cardiovascular system.

Chemicals like carbon monoxide found in cigarettes can be extremely detrimental to your cardiovascular system. When you smoke a cigarette, the carbon monoxide in your cigarette will bind with the hemoglobin in your blood. Hemoglobin is an essential blood component that is responsible for oxygenating your blood to full capacity. With lower hemoglobin counts, your blood is not oxygenated properly, and can not function properly. Thus, blood flow slows down, and in some areas of your body, may stop all together, at least temporarily.

When you factor in the arteries in your penis that need to be filled with healthy oxygenated blood in order to function properly, smoking creates a problem. When your blood is not oxygenated properly, your arteries will weaken by hardening and this will immediately reduce blood flow in all necessary areas, particularly in the genital region. Thus you can see how smoking could directly contribute to erectile dysfunction. If you are also thinking about building or extending your family, smoking will be one of the first things you want to eliminate from your life, as smoking will also contribute to low sperm motility, increased mortality of your sperm, and even lower sperm counts.

For many men, the easiest answer to curing ED is to start treatment such as Viagra. While these medications are very effective in dealing with ED, the simple answer is that ED that is caused by smoking may not always be cured with Viagra. The situation is further complicated if you have extraneous conditions such as heart disease or diabetes. Thus, if you are a smoker, and struggling with ED, your best bet for ED treatment is to first quit smoking, and then try medication like Viagra. While this may seem like a great sacrifice to you at first, when you consider the sacrifice you will alternatively make with a less than stellar sex life, it is up to you to decide which is more important to maintaining a healthy and satisfactory quality of life. Is smoking really worth it?

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4 Foods to Success Stop Smoking
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• Wednesday, January 06th, 2010

There are four types of foods that can make a bad sense of cigarette.

Desire for stop smoking is very large, but the bad habits that the health damage that wouldn’t stop. Are there any foods that help smokers stop smoking tobacco desire? And which foods would trigger a desire to smoke?

Study found there are four types of foods that can make a bad sense of cigarette. These foods help to eliminate regular cigarettes taste that makes people addicted.

* Fruits
* Vegetables
* Dairy products
* Non-carbonated drinks such as water and fruit juices

In addition there are three types of food that makes smoking more enjoyable. Smokers who intend to quit, should avoid:
* Meat
* Coffee
* Alcoholic beverages

Although not yet be explained further, researchers speculate that certain foods trigger the production of saliva, which makes cigarettes taste better or less good.

The same research offers some delicious food products while maintaining the diet.

Fruit: dessert from salad from various sweet fruits
Vegetables: recipes food with ingredients cauliflower, peppers, broccoli and other green vegetables
Yogurt: pina colada yogurt or berry smoothie citrus
Cheese: vegetable pizza with a sprinkling of cheese, caramel lasagna was so fine cuisine for a healthy diet as well.

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