Upon Conducting some research I could gather that cigarettes contain toxic contaminants including cadmium (which affects the kidneys, arteries, and blood pressure), lead, arsenic, cyanide, and nickel. Dioxin, the most toxic pesticide chemical known to date, has been found in cigarettes. Also noteworthy dioxin has been banned in North America yet it is still in basically every cigarette. Acetonitrile, another pesticide, is also found in tobacco. The smoke as we all know is carcinogenic, and is often a significant contributor to many forms of cancer. Cigarette smoke damages our DNA and has many negative heath implications throughout the life of that smoker.
Vitamin C is protective against many of the carcinogens found in cigarettes but extra vitamin C is needed by those who smoke. Smoking itself reduces the absorption of vitamin C. Smokers have 30-40 percent lower blood levels of vitamin C than non-smokers.
The following is taken from today's article of the Huffington Post about World No Tobacco Day 2012:
Switch Up Your Diet
Certain foods make cigarettes taste tasty -- and others not so much. Researchers at Duke University asked smokers to list the foods that made them savor the flavor of cigs. Seventy percent reported that red meat, coffee and alcohol enhanced lighting up. On the flip side, about half the group said good-for-you foods, like fruits, vegetables, juice and milk, made cigarettes taste lousy. "Loading up on fruits and vegetables even before quitting might help cigarettes seem less appealing," says F. Joseph McClernon, Ph.D., director of Duke's Health Behavior Neuroscience Research Program. Can't hurt to have your taste buds on your side.
Sweet Relief
Some of the gnawing hunger that quitters have for cigarettes may be a hankering for something else. "Perhaps as much as 30 percent of a smoker's cravings are actually for carbohydrates rather than nicotine," says Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D., professor of public health sciences and psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine. Studies show that sucking a few glucose tablets -- the type drugstores sell for diabetics -- helps to satiate the longing. Anecdotally, Foulds says, patients list Jujubes as the candy of choice -- they're long lasting and low cal (120 calories per 1.5-ounce box). As he puts it, "It's not that sugar is good for you, just that smoking is worse."
Get A Move On
Working out works for cravings, too. Research at Brown University showed that women who exercised vigorously -- at around 80 percent of their maximum heart rate -- improved their quit rates (19 percent versus 10 percent at the end of the 12-week program) and had a longer string of no-relapse days than non-exercisers. The researchers suggest that exercise may help prevent depression, relieve tension and reduce weight gain in women trying to kick the habit. In addition, research at the University of Exeter in the UK suggests that exercise triggers changes in brain activity. In that study, smokers who cycled at a moderate pace had fewer cravings after abstaining from nicotine for 15 hours, as measured by MRI reactions to cigarette images, than non-cyclers.
Kick Butts
Paging Bruce Lee! Researchers at the University of Miami tested the effectiveness of the ancient martial art tai chi in helping smokers quit. Participants took tai chi classes for one hour, three times per week. After 12 weeks, and with no other formal cessation component, nearly 60 percent had stopped smoking, says Jef Morris, the tai chi master trainer who runs the program. What's the connection? "Smoking gives people a feeling of relaxation in the way they breathe. With tai chi, they breathe well and feel stronger, and they find that the conscious breathing and flow of movement also reduce stress," Morris says.
Time It Right
Turns out going whole hog on a diet and exercise program just as you quit smoking may be biting off more than you can chew. "We found those who succeed at quitting smoking while not gaining weight are those who approach it sequentially -- quit now, diet later," says Bonnie Spring, Ph.D., professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. How much later? From a few weeks to two months. "It's so easy to get overwhelmed with quitting that it's wiser not to wholly change your diet or exercise regime simultaneously," says Spring.
Buddy Up
There's strength in numbers when it comes to quitting. After analyzing the quit rates of 1,000 people in treatment programs -- some who met one on one and others who met with a group -- researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Public Health found the group quit rate at six months was 41 percent (12 points higher than the one-on-oners). Other UMDNJ research concurs. Forty to 50 percent of people who attended six group meetings at their workplace -- sharing stories, laughs, compassion -- were successful quitters six months out. Join the group!
Talk The Talk
It sounds too simple to be true: Talking to your doctor about smoking increases the chances you'll quit. A review of 31,000 smokers in the UK found that even brief doctor-patient chats up the odds of quitting by 3 percent -- for up to a year. How you talk to yourself counts, too. "Stop, quit, give up -- so much of the language of quitting is negative," says Janet Konefal, Ph.D., assistant dean of complementary and integrative medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "We tell people to talk positively to themselves when they're ruminating about a cigarette. Something simple like 'I can do this' can be remarkably powerful."
Get Hip To Hypnosis
Can you hypnotize away a habit? Maybe, according to research at Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Texas, where patients underwent eight hypnotherapy visits over a two-month period. By the last visit, 40 percent of them had quit. A different study suggests that men are more likely to succeed with stop-smoking hypnosis than women. "Hypnosis can be very helpful -- even one session can have an impact -- but its success depends on both the willingness of the patient and the skillfulness of the practitioner," says Konefal.
Stick It To Cravings
Acupuncture, the ancient practice of Chinese medicine, needles away cravings, at least anecdotally. The clinical evidence is more limited. A meta-analysis of 33 studies of acupuncture and related techniques found that acupuncture was less effective than traditional nicotine-replacement therapy -- but it also found that many of the acupuncture studies were themselves flawed. Konefal notes that research shows acupuncture enhances the production of serotonin in the brain, which smoking cessation decreases. "For this reason, we believe acupuncture works best if you get treatment the day you quit or within the first 72 hours," she says. "We use ear, or auricular acupuncture, and have found a total of six treatments increases quit rates by 30 percent."
Put Your Mind To It
Listening to a CD to practice "mindful meditation" may turn up the volume on quitting. A pilot study of longtime smokers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health found more than half -- 56 percent -- stopped smoking after eight group sessions teaching meditation and daily practice with a CD. Those who spent an average of 45 minutes a day meditating did better than those who spent 20-something minutes per day. iTunes is full of meditative picks. All together now: Ommmmm.
Below you will find a study conducted by UCLA about how Fruits, vegetables, and teas may protect smokers from lung cancer.
Fruits, vegetables, teas may protect smokers from lung cancer
Date: May 29, 2008
Contact: Kim Irwin (email)
Phone: (310) 206-2805
Tobacco smokers who eat three servings of fruits and vegetables per day and drink green or black tea may be protecting themselves from lung cancer, according to a first-of-its-kind study by UCLA cancer researchers.
UCLA researchers found that smokers who ingested high levels of natural chemicals called flavonoids in their diet had a lower risk of developing lung cancer an important finding, since more than 90 percent of lung cancers are caused by tobacco smoking.
The study appeared this month in the peer-reviewed journal CANCER, published by the American Cancer Society.
"What we found was extremely interesting, that several types of flavonoids are associated with a reduced risk of lung cancer among smokers," said Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang, a researcher at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center and a professor of public health and epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health. "The findings were especially interesting because tobacco smoking is the major risk factor for lung cancer."
Flavonoids are water-soluble plant pigments that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, both of which can counteract damage to tissues. For the UCLA study, researchers looked at 558 people with lung cancer and 837 people who did not have lung cancer and analyzed their dietary history.
Researchers found that study participants who ate foods containing certain flavonoids seemed to be protected from developing lung cancer. Zhang said the flavonoids that appeared to be the most protective included catechin, found in strawberries and green and black teas; kaempferol, found in Brussels sprouts and apples; and quercetin, found in beans, onions and apples.
So should smokers run out and stock up on the teas, apples, beans and strawberries? Quitting smoking is the best course of action, Zhang said, but eating more fruits and vegetables and drinking more black and green teas won't hurt.
"Since this study is the first of its type, I would usually be hesitant to make any recommendations to people about their diet," Zhang said. "We really need to have several larger studies with similar results to confirm our finding. However, it's not a bad idea for everyone to eat more fruits and vegetables and drink more tea."
Zhang said flavonoids may protect against lung cancer by blocking the formation of blood vessels that tumors develop so they can grow and spread, a process called angiogenesis. They also may stop cancer cells from growing, allowing for naturally programmed cell death, or apoptosis, to occur.
The antioxidant properties found in the flavonoids also may work to counteract the DNA-damaging effects of tobacco smoking, Zhang said, explaining why they affected the development of lung cancer in smokers but not in nonsmokers.
"The naturally occurring chemicals may be working to reduce the damage caused by smoking," Zhang said.
The next step in research, Zhang said, involves laboratory-based studies of flavonoids on cell lines and animal models to determine how they are protecting smokers from developing lung cancer. And in addition to larger studies to confirm these findings, other studies need to be done to see if the protective effects of flavonoids extend to other smoking-related cancers, such as bladder, head and neck, and kidney cancers.
Zhang and his team also plan to study which types of fruits and vegetables have the highest levels of the flavonoids found to be helpful in this study and what the optimal number of servings per day might be to provide the greatest protection.
Phone: (310) 206-2805
Tobacco smokers who eat three servings of fruits and vegetables per day and drink green or black tea may be protecting themselves from lung cancer, according to a first-of-its-kind study by UCLA cancer researchers.
UCLA researchers found that smokers who ingested high levels of natural chemicals called flavonoids in their diet had a lower risk of developing lung cancer an important finding, since more than 90 percent of lung cancers are caused by tobacco smoking.
The study appeared this month in the peer-reviewed journal CANCER, published by the American Cancer Society.
"What we found was extremely interesting, that several types of flavonoids are associated with a reduced risk of lung cancer among smokers," said Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang, a researcher at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center and a professor of public health and epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health. "The findings were especially interesting because tobacco smoking is the major risk factor for lung cancer."
Flavonoids are water-soluble plant pigments that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, both of which can counteract damage to tissues. For the UCLA study, researchers looked at 558 people with lung cancer and 837 people who did not have lung cancer and analyzed their dietary history.
Researchers found that study participants who ate foods containing certain flavonoids seemed to be protected from developing lung cancer. Zhang said the flavonoids that appeared to be the most protective included catechin, found in strawberries and green and black teas; kaempferol, found in Brussels sprouts and apples; and quercetin, found in beans, onions and apples.
So should smokers run out and stock up on the teas, apples, beans and strawberries? Quitting smoking is the best course of action, Zhang said, but eating more fruits and vegetables and drinking more black and green teas won't hurt.
"Since this study is the first of its type, I would usually be hesitant to make any recommendations to people about their diet," Zhang said. "We really need to have several larger studies with similar results to confirm our finding. However, it's not a bad idea for everyone to eat more fruits and vegetables and drink more tea."
Zhang said flavonoids may protect against lung cancer by blocking the formation of blood vessels that tumors develop so they can grow and spread, a process called angiogenesis. They also may stop cancer cells from growing, allowing for naturally programmed cell death, or apoptosis, to occur.
The antioxidant properties found in the flavonoids also may work to counteract the DNA-damaging effects of tobacco smoking, Zhang said, explaining why they affected the development of lung cancer in smokers but not in nonsmokers.
"The naturally occurring chemicals may be working to reduce the damage caused by smoking," Zhang said.
The next step in research, Zhang said, involves laboratory-based studies of flavonoids on cell lines and animal models to determine how they are protecting smokers from developing lung cancer. And in addition to larger studies to confirm these findings, other studies need to be done to see if the protective effects of flavonoids extend to other smoking-related cancers, such as bladder, head and neck, and kidney cancers.
Zhang and his team also plan to study which types of fruits and vegetables have the highest levels of the flavonoids found to be helpful in this study and what the optimal number of servings per day might be to provide the greatest protection.