AboutMichael Dean Expertise Can answer
General information on tobacco addiction, and resources for quitting.
Information on current cancer research and the health effects of tobacco.
The risk of smoking for lung cancer and other cancers, as well as SIDS, heart disease, and vision loss.
The best place to start is 1-800-QUIT-NOW
Cannot answer
Specific medical questions
Experience Cancer Researcher for over 20 years
Author of the book "Empty Cribs-The impact of smoking on child health" www.artsciencepub.com.
Author of over 200 scientific articles on cancer, genetics and human disease.
Multiple interviews in print, TV and radio media.
Organizations American Association for Cancer Research
American Association of Human Genetics
Publications Scientific journals (Science, Nature, NE Journal Medicine, etc.)
Scientific American, Discovery Medicine, Nature Reviews in Cancer
Education/Credentials PhD. in Biochemistry from Boston University School of Medicine
Awards and Honors Young Investigator award-American Association of Cancer Research
Question How is smoking bad for you, and how is it addictive? I'm doing a project at school, and I need to contact and expert for it.
Answer Dear Zoe,
Great topic.
Here is some info:
Health Consequences:
Surgeon General’s List of Diseases Caused by Smoking
Proven associations between smoking and adult disease.
Cancer
Lung Cancer
Bladder cancer
Cervical cancer
Kidney cancer
Cancer of the larynx
Mouth and throat cancer
Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Pancreatic cancer
Stomach cancer
Cardiovascular disease
Abdominal aortic aneurysms
Atherosclerosis
Stroke
Coronary heart disease
Respiratory disease
Acute respiratory illness, including pneumonia
Impaired lung growth in childhood and adolescence
Lung function decline in late adolescence and early adulthood
Respiratory and asthma-related symptoms in children and
adolescents including coughing wheezing
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Reproductive effects
Sudden infant death syndrome
Fetal growth restriction and low birth rate
Reduced fertility in women
Premature rupture of membranes, placenta previa, and placental abruption
Preterm delivery and shortened gestation
Ophthalmologic (eye diseases)
Age-related macular degeneration cataracts
General
Increased absenteeism and increased use of medical services
Risks of adverse surgical outcomes related to wound healing and
respiratory complications
Hip fractures
Low bone density in post menopausal women
Peptic ulcer disease in Helicobacter pylori positive individuals
From United States Surgeon Generals 2004 report on tobacco. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr_2004/chapters.htm]
Smoking and Reproductive Health
While lung cancer is the most deadly outcome of smoking, tobacco use causes a whole range of reproductive problems and diseases in both men and women. Reports by the United States Surgeon General’s office and the British Medical Association have compiled data from many scientific studies to back up these findings. The good news is that quitting smoking can reverse most of the damage and reduce the risk of disease.
Smoking affects all aspects of reproduction. Women who smoke have a significantly lower fertility rate, a higher risk of miscarriage, and experience many other complications of pregnancy. This is powerful evidence of the profound effect of tobacco smoke on female health. Smoking affects the breakdown of estrogens in a woman’s body as well as affecting male sex hormones.
Infant health
Smoking of parents s the #1 peventable cause of infant mortality
in 2006, the United States Surgeon General released a report, “The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke.” This report leaves no doubt:
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.
Tobacco exposure dramatically affects the unborn child. Mothers who smoke have more spontaneous abortions or miscarriages. The most reliable data on this come from studies of mothers undergoing in vitro fertilization where both the number of implanted embryos and the number of successful pregnancies are known. In one of these studies, forty-two percent of smoking mothers miscarried, compared to nineteen percent of nonsmoking mothers. From this data, one can estimate that a great many miscarriages annually in the United States are due to smoking. Many of these miscarriages are likely to occur early in the pregnancy and go unnoticed. One study, published in the Journal of Family Practice, estimated that smoking caused from 19 to 140 thousand spontaneous abortions per year.
Proven associations of passive smoking affecting
children*
Increased incidence of obstetric complications
Reduced birth weight reduced head circumference at birth
Increased incidence of SIDS
Increased incidence of meningococcal infections
Increased incidence of acute lower airway infections
(0–3 years)
Increased incidence of middle ear disease
Increased incidence of wheeze (0–5 years)
More frequent respiratory symptoms (5–16 years)
Persisting reduced lung function
* Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case-control analytical studies, preferably from more than one center or research group. From the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking, 2001.
Addiction
Cigarettes deliver a small dose of the addictive drug nicotine, which stimulates specialized cells in the brain. This causes the hormone adrenaline to be released, increasing the heart rate and making the smoker alert. The smoker feels a mild euphoria, especially with the first few doses. Nicotine also stimulates the ‘reward pathway’ of the brain, creating a pleasurable sensation. Heroin, cocaine and marijuana also stimulate the reward pathway. The effects of nicotine wear off in an hour or two, and larger or more frequent doses are needed to get the same effect. Once the brain is adapted to nicotine, the smoker is dependent, or addicted.
Nicotine is addictive physically and psychologically, just like heroin and cocaine. Nicotine does not produce an intense high like these other drugs. But a smoker will continue to smoke even after he or she wants to quit, and smokers will often continue despite their doctor’s advice — or even following heart attacks or lung cancer treatment. The majority of smokers want to quit, and most have tried many times. Addiction researchers have attempted to rank drugs according to a scale known as the “relative risk of addiction”. The relative risk of addiction for nicotine is as high as that for opiates like heroin and almost as high as for cocaine and other stimulants.
Good luck,
Michael Dean, Ph.D.
Author "Empty Cribs-The Impact of Smoking on Child Health"
http//www.artsciencepub.com
