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KICK NICOTINE: SAY NO TO TOBACCO1Bina Rani, 2Raaz Maheshwari, 3Sanjeev Patwa

1Department of Engineering Chemistry & Environmental Engineering, PCE, Sitapura, Jaipur, Rajasthan2Department of Chemistry, SBDTC, Lakshman Garh – 332 311, Rajasthan

3Department of Computer Science, FASC (MITS) Lakshman Garh – 332 311, Rajasthan

Smoking with other forms of consumption (like chewingin the form of zarda, gutkha and khaini) remains the mostpreventable cause of death worldwide. During the 20th

century, approximately 100 million people died globallyfrom tobacco-related diseases.

Today, with a smaller gap in the consumption of tobaccoin men and women, the fairer sex too puts themselves at agreater risk of cervical cancer, infertility, prematuremenopause and osteoporosis. When we smoke, because ofthe inhalation process, nicotine is quickly absorbed intothe blood stream and reaches the brain in only sevenseconds, faster than any other drug. This implies that thepleasurable rewards like anxiety reduction, tolerance ofpain are felt almost instantly. Many people believe thatchewing tobacco is much safer than smoking it, which issimply not true. It’s just as dangerous. While it’s true wewon’t get lung cancer from chewing tobacco. There is a

whole host of other cancerswe can get.The fact that consumption oftobacco, particularly smokingis considered a highly socialactivity, further increases theaddiction rate. Many timesthe addiction stems from thesimple desire to be well-

accepted within a peer group. A hookah or shisha ia amore harmful way of smoking tobacco than cigarettes.Researchers have found that hookah delivers three timesmore deadly carbon monoxide (CO) and roughly the sameamount of additive nicotine as a cigarette, dispelling themyth that waterpipe smoking is less lethal. Relative to acigarette, waterpipe tobacco smoking generates more than40x the smoke volume.

SMOKING LINKED TO PREMATURE AGINGResearchers from University of Iowa have found a linkbetween smoking and premature aging. The researchershave identified a key protein that is lost in Werner’ssyndrome (premature aging) is decreased in smokers withemphysema i.e. lung disease. This decrease harms lungcells that normally heal wounds. Smoking can accelerate

the aging process and shorten the life span by an averageof more than 12 years. People with Werner’s syndromebegin aging rapidly after adolescence and typically diefrom cancer or heart disease in their 40s or 50s.

PASSIVE SMOKING UPS DEMENTIA RISKPassive smoking appears to significantly raise a person’srisk of dementia and other forms ofcognitive problems, British and USresearchers stated in the report publishedin British Medical Journal. It was found a44% increased risk for people exposed tohigh levels of second-hand smoke. “Ourresults suggest that inhaling otherpeople’s smoke may damage the brain,impair cognitive functions such asmemory, and make dementia morelikely,” David Liewellyn of Britain’sUniversity of Cambridge, who led thestudy stated. One possible explanation is that exposure tosecond-hand smoke increases the risk of heart disease andstroke, conditions known to boost the odds of dementiaand other cognitive problems. Major studies in the UK andUS have concluded that parental smoking is associatedwith increased prevalence of asthma in children. Infants

whose mothers smoke during pregnancy have a higher riskof developing asthma.

SMOKERS HAVE FEWER TASE BUDSSmokers have ewer and flatter taste buds, states a studybased on an analysis of tongues o 62 Greek soldiers,Pavlidis Pavlos led a team of researcher from the AristotleUniversity of Thessaloniki who used electrical stimulationto test the taste threshold of the soldiers and endoscopes tomeasure the number and shape of a kind of taste budcalled fungiform papillae. By applying electrical current to

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the tongue, a unique metallic taste can be generated. The28 smokers in the study group scored worse than the 34non-smokers. Upon close examination with a contactendoscope, the smoker’s tongues had flatter fungiformpapillae, with a reduced blood supply.

INDIAN WOMEN PUFF THEIR WAY TO 3rd ONGLOBAL LISTThis is one area where closing the gender gap is notadvisable, but more women in India are turning smokersand oral users of tobacco. Indian women are among theworst in the world when it comes to smoking. The thirdedition of the Tobacco Atlas, released in Dublin by theAmerican Cancer Society (ACS) and World LungFoundation (WLF), states India has the third highestnumber of tobacco users in the world. Of the estimated11.9 million female consumers of tobacco in India, 5.4million smoke it and the rest chew the leaves. Tobacco inany form can be life-threatening and so weather the leaf issmoked, chewed or consumed orally as gutkha and othersimilar products, it is a health hazard. The Alas points outthat worldwide, tobacco consumption could kill sixmillion people in 2010, and one-third of those peoplewould die of cancer.

The report also states that 25 per cent of smokers die orbecome ill during their most productive years, adverselyimpacting families as well as economies. Tobacco killsmore men than women worldwide only because historical

smoking prevalence has been higher among men thanwomen but that is changing slowly. Because smoking ratesare increasing among women in many countries includingIndia, and particularly among young women, that gap intobacco death rates between men and women is closing.Female smokers in India are dying eight years earlier thantheir non-smoking peer group, the study adds.Regular smokers tend to suffer from poor reproductivehealth. In men, it is known to cause impotence. In, women,not only could smoking adversely affect the health of eggsproduced; it could compromise the health of the expectantmother and the foetus. And this would be true for passivesmokers well. Tobacco consumers are more vulnerable todisease, especially cancer, and particularly to lung cancer.There could be many reasons why women in India arepicking up the smoking habit. Smoking dulls the appetiteand it is seen as a convenient and easy way of bolsteringone’s diet plan to help weight loss. Most developedcountries are trying hard – and succeeding to an extant – tokick the habit through public awareness campaign,deterrent legislation, high pricing and pictorial warningson cigarette packs. India should do likewise, especiallysince public health is already a matter of high concern andpoor delivery. The central Tobacco Research Institute inAP (under the agriculture ministry) which tests tobaccocontent for the industry, recently found high levels ofnicotine and tar in Indian cigarettes. While the global cut-off mark for tar is 10 mg per cigarette in India, it wasfound to be 13-14 mg in filter cigarette tested and 15-18mg in non-filter cigarettes as against the permissible cut-off mark of 1 mg of nicotine per cigarette, the contentlevel in filter cigarette was found to be 1,3-1,8 mg and innon-filter cigarettes it was 1.4-1.8mg.

IN EUROPE, HEART ATTACKS DIP BY 10%AFTER SMOKING BANThe ban on public smoking has caused a fall in heartattack rates of 10%. Researchers commissioned by theBritish government have found a far sharper fall than theyexpected in the number of heart attacks across England inthe year after the ban was imposed in July 2007. InScotland, where the ban was imposed a year earlier, heartattack rates have fallen by 14% because of the ban. Thesuccess of the public smoking ban is emerging as one ofthe most significant improvements in public health thatUK has seen, even measured by heart attack rates alone.Over time the ban should bring more benefits by cuttingcancer and coronary pulmonary disease – killers are alsocaused by smoking. Exposure to cigarette smoke inducesrapid changes in blood chemistry, making it more prone tocloting. In someone who has damaged arteries, smokeexposure can tip the balance and cause an attack. Similarresults were reported in Western Europe after smokingbans. France had a 15% drop in emergency admissions forheart attacks after a year, while both Italy and Ireland hadan 11% reduction.

‘CHUNA’ ON TOBACCO CAN BLIND PEOPLESAn additive to chewing tobacco, popularly known aschuna, can lead to blindness. Children view these pouches,which contain calcium hydroxide. If the pouch burstsuddenly, the calcium hydroxide gets sprayed around andcan enter the eyes where the paste get stuck causing

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extensive damage. Calcium hydroxide damages thesurface of the eye, including the cornea. The tear systemgets completely destroyed and the eye becomes dry,leading to complete blindness. These cases have increasedduring last few years as calcium hydroxide began to besold in easy-to-carry pouches. Pressure build up in thesepouches as people press them and they burst with a lot offorce when they are opened, thus spraying the contentsinto the eyes.

SMOKING LEADS CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVEPULMONARY DISEASEOnce considered a “smoker’s diseases,” chronicobstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is now affectingeven those who smoked indirectly, mainly due to risinglevels of indoor and outdoor air pollution. According toWHO, more than 210 million people currently haveCOPD, while 3 million died of the disease in 2005. By2030, it is likely to become the third leading cause ofdeath worldwide. Smoking remains the main cause ofCOPD. Beedis are more likely to cause COPD thancigarettes, in India, beedis are more popular thancigarettes. The findings point to the additional role ofindoor and outdoor pollution in causing and aggravatingCOPD. Use of fuels like kerosene, wood and biomass in illventilated kitchens has been identified as a major factor.While the increasing number of smokers remains a matterof concern, rapid urbanization and high levels of pollutionare likely to compound the problem.

VANITY HELPS TO QUIT SMOKINGWhat do we think scares people more, sudden death orbaldness? It’s vanity that wins each time. The fear oflosing hair and developing premature wrinkles are morelikely to make smokers quit or cut down than killer attacksand cancers, reports a study of the impact of the cigarettepack warnings published in the Journal of ExperimentalSocial Psychology. A study of smokers between the agesof 17 and 41 in the US, Switzerland and Germany showedthat instead of making smokers quit, death-related anti-smoking messages prompted them to light up more oftento cope with the inevitability of death. Warnings unrelatedto death – such as ‘smoking makes you impotent’,‘smoking makes you unattractive’, ‘smoking brings youand the people around you severe damage’ – were foundto be more effective in changing attitudes. Social messagesworked best among young smokers who took to it to ‘fitin’. Studies in the past bear out that when done well, theimpact of warnings among young smokers in New Yorkbrought down rates among 15 to 19 olds from 29 per centin 2002 to 19 per cent in 2007. A school-based study inAustralia (Addiction, 2008) reported that graphic warninglabels on cigarette packs are noticed by most adolescentsand helped to reduce smoking among them.In Canada, graphic health warnings have alreadycontributed to an overall 3 per cent drop in smoking rates.In India, where some 250 million people consumetobacco, a similar drop in numbers would translate into 6million people quitting tobacco use. This, however, is notlikely to happen. India’s tobacco warnings are easily themost ineffective in the world and, like the previous‘Statutory Warning: Cigarette Smoking is Injurious tohealth’, are not likely to have any impact on smoking

rates. Everyone knows smoking is bad for health, that itcauses lung cancer in an unlucky few and heart attacks insome others. Few, however, give thought to how it can killa non-smoking partner or an unborn child (it is wellestablished that smoking cannot only cause impotence butalso abortions). In India, 57% men and 10.9 per centwomen use some form of tobacco, which kills 10 lakhpeople – 2,500 people die each day – annually. The pointof warnings is to make people aware of the healthconsequences and make an informed choice. A four-country study comparing warning labels from Australia,Canada, the UK and the US (American Journal ofPreventive Medicine, 2007) found that 84 per centsmokers in Canada, where pictorial warnings are required,considered labels as a source of health information,compared with 47 per cent in the US, where text-onlylabels are required.Vanity, in more cases than addiction, stops people fromkicking the butt. Many of us are afraid that we will put onweight if they stop smoking. But this need not be anexcuse to stay addicted. We can keep our health and a trimbody if we plan our ‘Quit Smoking’ operation wisely.There are several reasons why smoking keeps our weightdown: It raises metabolism rate slightly and heavy smokers

burn up to 200 calories a day. Nicotine kills hunger as smokers replace snacks with

cigarettes. When you are trying to quit, you turn tosnacking not only for emotional support, but alsobecause it eases the oral fixation.

Some studies have shown that nicotine could interferewith the release of insulin. The hormone controlsglucose levels of the blood. When nicotine iswithdrawn, a person will become slightlyhyperglycaemic, and the body and brain may slowdown the hormones and other signals that triggerfeelings of hunger. On an average most people gainthree to five kilos after quitting smoking. This can beavoided by a few simple lifestyle changes.

PICK THE RIGHT DAY TO QUIT: Try giving up at atime when you aren’t stressed. Stress increases your urgeto smoke and if you resist that you will probably takecomfort in food. Also, try to not quit during the festiveseason as that’s when you will be even more tempted togive into high-fat, sugary treat.

BEAT WATER RETENTION: When your body ishooked to nicotine, its acidic balance is disturbed. Whenyou give up, it stores water. contradictory to how it souds,drinking plenty of water will help eliminate excess waterbuild-up. If your body is assured that it will be given aconstant supply of water, it will no longer hold on towater. Increase your water intake by one litre a day andeven more if you are already overweight.

AVOID ALCOHOL: Alcohol contains empty caloriesand usually serves as a trigger to smoke.

START EXERCISING BEFORE YOU QUIT: Youneed at least a half hour of exercise, five days a week. Itdoesn’t have to be a high intensity aerobic workout – abrisk 30 minute walk will do. You can even break it into

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shorter sessions. Once you actually quit smoking, you mayneed more than 30 minutes of exercise. A workout is alsoa great way to beat cravings. If you’re itching for a smoke,get out for a walk. It will also reduce stress, whichprompts smoking.

WORK ON YOUR FOOD HABITS: Change youreating habits gradually, anything drastic can add to thestress. Healthy snacks and light munchies is just what youneed when you crave a smoke. Lean on cucumber andcarrot sticks, fat –free popcorn, fruit, buttermilk, fat-freeyoghurt, herbal teas, hot cocoa with skimmed milk, puffedrice, bread sticks and sugarless chewing gum.

AVOID CAFFEINE: Avoid excessive drinking of coffee,tea and soda. Nicotine withdrawal will make you jitteryand nervous, and the caffeine will only make nicotinewithdrawal worse. Also turn away from sugar andunhealthy starches. If you feel you must have sweets, gofor sugarless and fat-free ones.

TAKE ONE CHALLENGE AT A TIME: People whoquit smoking often decide it’s time to clean up other areas

of their lives as well. If you have too many self-improvement projects at once, you run the risk of failing atall of them. Deal eith one problem area at a time.

GLOBAL ISSUE: Now that the ill-effects of tobaccoconsumption has been clearly established, there is a globalawakening concerning the issue. The World HealthOrganisation (WHO) has selected “Tobacco HealthWarnings” as the theme for the World No Tobacco Day onMay 31. On that day and throughout the following year,WHO will encourage governments to adopt tobacco healthwarnings that meet all the criteria for maximaleffectiveness, including that they cover more than half ofthe pack, appear on the front and back of the pack andcontain picture. India’s tobacco warnings are easily themost ineffective in the world and, like the previous‘Statutory Warning: Cigarette Smoking is Injurious toHealth’, are not likely to have any impact on smokingrates. Graphic warnings need to educate people and notbecome grim reminders of disease and death that usuallyget blocked out. The warnings in India do neither: they area bad joke that only the tobacco industry is laughing at.