Smoking Effects on the Human Body

Toxic ingredients in cigarette smoke travel throughout the body, causing

damage in several different ways.
Nicotine reaches the brain within 10 seconds after smoke is inhaled. It has
been found in every part of the body and in breast milk.
Carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin in red blood cells, preventing affected
cells from carrying a full load of oxygen.
Cancer-causing agents (carcinogens) in tobacco smoke damage important
genes that control the growth of cells, causing them to grow abnormally or to
reproduce too rapidly.
The carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene binds to cells in the airways and major
organs of smokers.
Smoking affects the function of the immune system and may increase the risk
for respiratory and other infections.
There are several likely ways that cigarette smoke does its damage. One is
oxidative stress that mutates DNA, promotes atherosclerosis, and leads to
chronic lung injury. Oxidative stress is thought to be the general mechanism
behind the aging process, contributing to the development of cancer,
cardiovascular disease, and COPD.
The body produces antioxidants to help repair damaged cells. Smokers have
lower levels of antioxidants in their blood than do nonsmokers.
Smoking is associated with higher levels of chronic inflammation, another
damaging process that may result in oxidative stress.
http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/tobaccostatistics/a/CigaretteSmoke.htm

The Health Risks of Smoking
Do you have any idea which smoking-related disease is the number one cause of death
among smokers? If you're thinking it's lung cancer or COPD/emphysema, you're
wrong. While both of these smoking-related diseases do claim a lot of lives, it is heart
disease that that holds the top slot in the list of diseases that kill smokers.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States today, and the leading
cause of death among smokers. And, on a global level, researchers report that there
were 1,690,000 premature deaths from cardiovascular disease among smokers in the
year 2000. In contrast, there were approximately 850,000 lung cancer deaths during
the same year, and 118,000 COPD deaths from smoking in 2001, worldwide.
Smoking is hard on the heart, but the fact is, tobacco use plays a role in a multitude of
diseases that ultimately lead to disability and/or death. Cigarette smoke contains over
4,000 chemical compounds; 200 of which are known to be poisonous, and upwards of
60 have been identified as carcinogens. Viewed in that light, it's no wonder that the
effects of smoking are so widespread and destructive.
Let's take a look at how cigarette smoke affects our bodies, from head to toe. You may
be surprised at some of the ways smoking has a negative impact on our health.

Hair:
Smell and staining
Brain and Mental Effects:
Stroke
Addiction/nicotine withdrawal
Altered brain chemistry
Anxiety about harm caused by smoking
Eyes:
Eyes that sting, water and blink more
Macular degeneration
Cataracts
Nose:
Less sense of smell
Thyroid
Graves Disease
Thyroid Disease
Skin:
Wrinkles
Premature aging
Teeth:
Discoloration and stains
Plaque
Loose teeth
Gum disease (gingivitis)
Mouth and Throat:
Cancers of the lips, mouth, throat and larynx
Cancer of the esophagus
Sore throat
Reduced sense of taste
Breath smells of smoke
Hands:
Poor circulation(cold fingers)
Peripheral vascular disease
Tar stained fingers
Respiration and Lungs:
Lung Cancer
COPD (includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema)
Cough and sputum
Shortness of breath
Colds and flu
Pneumonia
Asthma
Complicates Tuberculosis
Heart:
Harms, blocks and weakens arteries of the heart
Heart attack
Liver:
Cancer
Abdomen:
Stomach and duodenal ulcers
Cancer of stomach, pancreas and colon
Aortic aneurysm
Kidneys and bladder:
Kidney cancer
Bladder cancer
Bones:
Osteoporosis
Spine and hip fractures
Spine:
Degenerative Disc Disease
Male reproduction:
Sperm: deformity, loss of motility, reduced number
Infertility
Impotence
Female reproduction:
Period pains
Earlier menopause
Cancer of cervix
Infertility and delay in conception
Blood:
Leukemia
Legs and Feet:
Gangrene
Peripheral vascular disease
Beurger Disease
Immune System:
Weakened immune system
The effects of smoking hold additional risks for women. Those who smoke throughout
their pregnancies increase the risk of:
Spontaneous abortion/miscarriage
Ectopic pregnancy
Abruptio placentae
Placenta previa
Premature rupture of the membranes
Premature birth
Risks to the fetus include:
Smaller infant(for gestational age)
Stillborn infant
Birth defects, e.g. congenital limb reduction
Increased nicotine receptors in baby's brain
Increased likelihood of child smoking as a teenager
Possible predisposition to adult anxiety disorders
As long as this list of diseases known to be associated with smoking is, it is
incomplete. We don't yet fully understand all of the dangers that cigarette smoke
presents, but research continues, bringing us new discoveries seemingly by the day.
One thing is certain: Cigarettes snuff out life at an alarming rate. Statistics tell us that
upwards of half of long-term smokers will die a smoking-related death. And globally,
that presently translates to nearly 5 million deaths a year. Put another way, someone
loses their life to smoking every 8 seconds somewhere in the world.
If you currently smoke, use this information to help you see your smoking habit for
what it is - a deadly addiction that you can live without. The tools here at About.com
Smoking Cessation are designed to help you learn what nicotine addiction involves
and what it takes to quit smoking.
http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/tobaccorelateddiseases/a/smokingrisks.htm

How Smoking Affects Your Body
There's hardly a part of the human body that's not affected by the chemicals in the
cigarettes you smoke. Let's take a tour of your body to look at how smoking affects it.
Starting at the Top
As a smoker, you're at risk for cancer of the mouth. Tobacco smoke can also cause
gum disease, tooth decay and bad breath. The teeth become unsightly and yellow.
Smokers may experience frequent headaches. And lack of oxygen and narrowed blood
vessels to the brain can lead to strokes.
Lungs and Bronchi
Moving down to your chest, smoke passes through the bronchi, or breathing tubes.
Hydrogen cyanide and other chemicals in the smoke attack the lining of the bronchi,
inflaming them and causing that chronic smoker's cough. Because the bronchi are
weakened, you're more likely to get bronchial infections. Mucus secretion in your
lungs is impaired, also leading to chronic coughing. Smokers are 10 times as likely to
get lung cancer and emphysema as nonsmokers.
Smoking and the Heart
The effects of smoking on your heart are devastating. Nicotine raises blood pressure
and makes the blood clot more easily. Carbon monoxide robs the blood of oxygen and
leads to the development of cholesterol deposits on the artery walls. All of these
effects add up to an increased risk of heart attack. In addition, the poor circulation
resulting from cholesterol deposits can cause strokes, loss of circulation in fingers and
toes and impotence.
Smoking and the Body's Organs
The digestive system is also affected. The tars in smoke can trigger cancer of the
esophagus and throat. Smoking causes increased stomach acid secretion, leading to
heartburn and ulcers. Smokers have higher rates of deadly pancreatic cancer. Many of
the carcinogens from cigarettes are excreted in the urine where their presence can
cause bladder cancer, which is often fatal. High blood pressure from smoking can
damage the kidneys.
The Results
The health effects of smoking have results we can measure. Forty percent of men who
are heavy smokers will die before they reach retirement age, as compared to only 18
percent of nonsmokers. Women who smoke face an increased risk of cervical cancer,
and pregnant women who smoke take a chance with the health of their unborn babies.
But the good news is that when you quit smoking your body begins to repair itself.
Ten years after you quit, your body has repaired most of the damage smoking caused.
Those who wait until cancer or emphysema has set in aren't so luckythese
conditions are usually fatal. It's one more reason to take the big step and quit now.
http://www.quitsmoking.com/kopykit/reports/body.htm


Effects of Smoking
As a matter of fact, we all know about the ill-effects of cigarette smoke and tobacco
use but a smoker really is helpless in front of this menacing addiction. When he has to,
he 'will' smoke; the underlying psychology is A fag allows a man. The Will is
associated with the short term effects. Let us see the quick-effects of a cigarette smoke
that makes a man physically and mentally dependent on it. These immediate effects
encourage a smoker to take a fag;
Nervous system and brain activities are quickened for few minutes by the stimulation
caused by smoke.
One cigarette quickly increases blood pressure and heart beat rate. At the same time
blood flow to the bodys end points is reduced giving numbness to the areas like
fingers and toes.
Hunger, taste and olfactory senses are weakened.
Dizziness is also experienced in many cases.
While the smokers enjoy the short term effects, what about the long-term affects
which, most of the time, are irreversible? Smoke actually increases the risk of
suffering from life-threatening diseases even if a person quits in the later years of his
life. Of course, quitting would at least help to diminish the evil effects of tobacco.
Smoking has a permanent effect on the following parts of a human body even if you
have smoked for only five years;
Lungs,
Heart,
Eyes,
Throat,
Urinary tract,
Sex organs,
Women's fertility zone,
Men's sperm production,
Digestive organs,
Bones and joints,
Skin
The intensity of the irreversible effects of smoke depends on certain factors;
The quantity of cigarette smoke per day;
How old was he when he started smoking;
Number of years a person has smoked;
Level of resistance to the tobacco chemicals;

http://www.chantixhome.com/effects_smoking.html

Smoking IS good for you

WAY too much has been said about the 'ill-effects' of smoking, what it could 'do' to
you and other crap. The effects of smoking have been greatly exaggerated, and it's us
smokers who have to face the public sentiment on this.


Anyways, what is the big deal if I smoke? People will often come up to me and tell
me, "Smoking can kill you, you know?" I promptly reply with some smartass remark
like "Really? THANK you for telling me!" Yeah, Sherlocks. I'm too stupid and
illiterate to read the warning on the pack, let alone understand it. I have this feeling
that not smoking actually makes people so stupid, they don't realize that smokers
already know what they're doing to their bodies. Hey, I know my lungs have taken on
a distinct coloration of black, with pink patches here and there. I know that I'll be
hacking up blood in my cough, a couple years from now. Who gives a damn?

I have a hectic and inundated life, and I'd like to take a break from it all to enjoy the
relief that the cigarette can bring to me. The last thing I need is for yet another self-
appointed Samaritan coming near me to tell me what I'm doing to my body, or why
they object to me puffing around. It's not like I'm going up to them and telling them,
"Excuse me, sir, could you please go elsewhere, you're in my smoking space." I'd
really love to do that though, I don't think that they're even worthy of breathing my
2nd hand smoke.

How many of you readers smoke? How many of you are ferverent anti-smoking
lobbyists? What IS your problem with smokers? Till date, I haven't seen a good
answer for that last question.

I've made a list of 20 points I'd like to make for the case of smoking. If anyone can,
what is the case against smoking/second-hand smoking?

Here's my spit:
1. Increases concentration.
2. People often go with the general sentiment on things like these, most of what
you hear is hogwash. Cases of cancer are linked with smoking, but it's not
proof. Only 1 in 3 of us will get lung cancer. (By "us" I also include non
smokers).
3. Smokers are a persecuted lot, since this habit has been banned from
workplaces, restaurants, buses, subways and planes. You don't think they'd
outlaw breathing for christ's sake.
4. Smokers have the only real community that's left in the workplace today.
5. Smokers suffer from less stress, since they actually take a few breaks per day.
6. That bruhaha about second hand smoking is a load of crap. it's just a phrase
made up to get normal people who earlier didn't care about it, to go and
further persecute the smokers.
7. It's cool to smoke. Ever seen a hacker or a real artist with a health shake?
8. Smokers support the economy by paying all those taxes, which *AHEM*
some of us don't.
9. Warning:
The Surgeon General fails to warn you that non-smokers die every day
10. Studies have shown that prolonged contact (as in several years) with second
hand smoking can cause mild lung problems. Second hand smoke has no
immediate harmful effects.
11. Actually, why not just ban non-smokers? :D
12. Too much is made of the 4000 chemicals that make up a cigarette. Several
carcinogens found in cigarettes are found in peppers, carrots, strawberries,
tomatoes, onions and grapefruit.
13. Believe it or not, nicotine is actually "a surprisingly potent drug for a variety
of diseases that afflict the brain, including Alzheimers, Parkinsons and
Tourettes syndrome." (An image makeover for nicotine: It shows promise
against brain diseases, HealthCentral.com - Feb. 21, 2000) Smokers have a
60% lower risk of Parkinson's disease
14. Nicotine has a positive effect on ulcerative colitis, which is an inflammation
of the stomach lining, and this disorder affects nonsmokers more than
smokers.
15. Smokers actually recovered better from a heart attack than nonsmokers
16. Smoking was found to reduce the risk of estrogen-dependent endometrial
cancer (dunno what that means, it just sounds really cool)
17. Schizophrenics (4 million Americans) who smoke can get enough nicotine
stimulation to switch on a brain receptor that helps filter information.
18. Stanford researchers have discovered that low doses of nicotine - a major
component of cigarette smoke - appear to promote new blood vessel growth
(in mice). (Nicotine to be used to treat heart disease, Reuters Health,
HealthCentral.com - Sept. 2000)
19. Alcohol is even more harmful than smoking. Yet not much is said against it
as compared to smoking. Half a bottle of wine can supply you with 32-40
times the amount of lead a whole pack of smokes can give you.
20. "Sick smokers may burden a country's health care system but dead smokers
save governments money"

A single drive to work puts out more deadly fumes and toxins in the air, than a smoker
could possibly do in one year. If you drive a car, your car puts out more deadly
poisons and toxins in one drive to work than my smoking does in a year. When you go
home again, that's another year. So in a couple months, you've created more deadly
toxins in the environment than my smoking will in a lifetime. But it's always easier to
point fingers at other people, isn't it?

If you're really concerned about your health then put your money where your mouth is.
Stop buying products that are painted (all kinds of toxins put into the environment) or
made of plastic (here's some stuff that's good for your health, right?) and stop driving a
car. You can survive that way - a lot of people do it. But I'll bet you don't want to give
up the conveniences these things offer.

I'm really tired of hearing people complain about the health risks that smokers present
to them when they aren't willing to make changes to their own lifestyle that WOULD
AFFECT THEM MORE than having any number of smokers quit.

I'm a smoker and to be honest, I really hate seeing butts all over the ground. But I'm
also tired of seeing McDonalds wrappers all over the place. When a non-smoker sees a
butt on the ground, they always say something like, "ALL smokers should have to
clean these up." or something along the lines of punishment for ALL smokers. But
they never say "every person who eats at McDonalds should have to clean these up."

When was the last time you heard this one:
"He went to the bar after work, had one smoke too many and went home and beat the
crap out of his wife and kids?"
Or
"That auto accident was caused by someone who smoked one too many? (we're talking
about tobacco here)."

http://www.mendhak.com/102-smoking-is-good-for-you.aspx

NICOTINE BENEFITS
By Wanda Hamilton
Researchers have long been aware that fewer smokers get Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
diseases than non-smokers. Up to April l992, of the 17 studies on Alzheimer's and smoking
which had been published in peer-reviewed journals, 13 reported a reduced risk for
smokers and only four found no difference between smokers and non-smokers. Similar
findings have been published on the effect of smoking and Parkinson's disease.
In an article in The Times of London (9/7/93), Dr. James Le Fanu provided an examination
of the research on smoking and its apparent protective effect for certain diseases. Dr. Le
Fanu stated unequivocally: "Smokers have a 50 per cent reduced risk of developing
Alzheimer's--and the more smoked the greater the protection." He also noted that emerging
research points to a similar effect of smoking on Parkinson's disease.
So striking was the apparent protective effect of smoking on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's
that increasingly biomedical researchers are experimenting with nicotine to treat the
symptoms of these dread disease in-patients who have been diagnosed as having them.
Results from these experiments have all showed promise in alleviating the symptoms of
these diseases with the administration of nicotine.
The mechanism by which the nicotine in tobacco works to protect smokers is that it
increases the number of so-called "nicotinic" receptors in the brain, which in turn influence
the production and release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Those who come down
with Alzheimer's show a marked loss of "nicotinic" receptors in their brains and thus have
reduced levels of acetylcholine, which is necessary for memory and other brain functions.
Research has shown that tobacco smoke (and the nicotine therein) inhibits the activity of
monoamine oxidase B (MAOB). Experiments on mice which were genetically engineered to
be without the gene for MAOB "were resistant to the neurodegenerative effects of MPTP, a
toxin that induces a condition reminiscent of Parkinson's disease," (Dr. Jean C. Shih
researcher at the University of Southern California, as reported in Reuters, 10/7/97,
"Isoenzyme Inhibited by cigarette Smoke May Have Role in Aging and
Neurodegeneration"). The findings of Dr. Shih and her colleagues point to a protective
effect from smoking on the aging of the brain.
Other diseases for which smoking and nicotine appear to be protective are ulcerative
colitis, Tourette's Syndrome, and possibly rheumatoid arthritis and colorectal cancer.
Below are excerpts from some recent articles and studies on nicotine, Alzheimer's,
Parkinson's, cognitive abilities, Tourette's and ulcerative colitis.

"In human studies, reported performance improvements with post-trial administration of nicotine
have all involved associated learning (Mangan and Golding l883; Colrain et al, l992; Warburton et
al, l992).... Nicotine improves performance by increasing the attentional resources available for
such strategic processing," [Rusted JM, et al, "Facilitation of memory by post-trial
administration of nicotine: evidence for attentional explanation," Psychopharmacology,
108(4):452-5, l992].
"1. Nicotine improves attention in a wide variety of tasks in healthy volunteers. 2. Nicotine
improves immediate and longer-term memory in healthy volunteers. 3. Nicotine improves attention
in patients with probable Alzheimer's Disease," [Warburton D M, "Nicotine as a cognitive
enhancer," Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 16(2): 181-91,
Mar l992]
"Researchers observed lessening of tic frequency and severity 3 minutes after subjects chewed
[nicotine] gum, even more so at 10 minutes." [Rickards E H, "Nicotine gum in Tourette's
disorder," American Journal of Psychiatry, 149(3):417, Mar l992. Note: the subjects were all
children with Tourette's disorder].
"In humans, nicotine-induced improvement of rapid information processing is particularly well
documented.... Preliminary studies have found that some aspects of the cognitive deficit in
Alzheimer's disease can be attenuated by nicotine." [Levin E D, "Nicotinic systems and
cognitive function," Psychopharmacology, 108(4):417-31, l992]
"Improvement in attention, learning, reaction time, and problem solving have been reported....
Different processes, including attention, stimulus evaluation, and response selection, appear to be
involved in the effect of nicotine on human information processing." [Le Houezec J, Benowitz N L,
"Basic and clinical psychopharmacology of nicotine," Clinics in Chest Medicine, 12(4):681-
99, Dec l991].
"Despite the absence of change in memory functioning, these results demonstrate that DAT
[Alzheimer's disease] patients have significant perceptual and visual attentional deficits which are
improved by nicotine administration." [Jones G M, Sahakian B J, et al, "Effects of acute
subcutaneous nicotine on attention, information processing and short-term memory in
Alzheimer's disease," Psychopharmacology, 108(4):485-94, l992].
"When you look at people who smoke, and people who don't smoke...you find those who smoke
cigarettes are about half as likely to get Parkinson's disease." [Dr. David Morens of the University
of Hawaii School of Public Health as quoted in "Stunned docs discover cigarettes stop
Parkinson's," by Roger Field, New York Post, 6/15/95. Dr. Morens and colleagues examined 34
studies on smoking and Parkinson's. Their study was published in the June, l995 issue of
Neurology].
According to a study conducted at Surrey University and published in the journal
Psychopharmacology, smokers are more mentally alert at night than non-smokers. Rosemary
Brook, spokeswoman for Surrey University's psychopharmacology unit, said, "The results showed
that smokers were subsequently able to perform various tests of reaction, memory recall and other
related tasks consistently better than the non-smokers," [Reported on the BBC News, 4/8/98,
"Cigarettes 'keep you sharp after dark'."
In a presentation at the 151st annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (June 8,
l998 in Toronto), Dr. Paul Newhouse of the University of Vermont reported on his research on
treating Parkinson's disease with nicotine. "Preliminary analysis shows improvements after acute
nicotine administration in several areas of cognitive performance." These areas included reaction
time and central processing speed. The researchers also reported that after chronic use of
nicotine on Parkinson's patients, motor function and the ability to move also improved. [Reported
by Reuters, 6/8/98, "Nicotine patch promising for Parkinson's"].
"The influence of smoking on the risk of developing ulcerative colitis is well documented.
Compared with lifetime nonsmokers, the risk is reduced in smokers...." [Tysk C, Jarnerot G, "Has
smoking changed the epidemiology of ulcerative colitis?" Scandinavian Journal of
Gastroenterology, 27(6):508-12, Jun l992].
"When association between cigarette smoking and UC [ulcerative colitis] are examined, never-
smokers are approximately three times more likely to develop UC than smokers. A consistent
finding from study to study is that quitters have a mildly increased risk of developing UC which
suggests that cigarette smoking may have a protective effect," [Lashner B A, "Inflammatory
bowel disease: family patterns and risk factors," Comprehensive Therapy, 18(8):2-4, Aug
l992].
"It is beyond doubt that smokers are protected against ulcerative colitis, and the more that is
smoked the greater the protection--so those on 25 cigarettes a day or more have a risk as little as
one-tenth that of non-smokers," (Dr. Martin Osbourne, surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital in
London, as quoted in the Daily Telegraph, 9/7/93).
http://www.forces.org/evidence/hamilton/other/nicotine.htm