A Cig A Day Keeps Parkinson's Away

[The Straight Story]

A Cig A Day Keeps Parkinson's Away

CHICAGO (Reuters) - There is more evidence to back up a long-standing theory that smokers are less likely to develop Parkinson's disease than people who do not use tobacco products, researchers reported on Monday.

The apparent protective effect of tobacco against the degenerative nerve disease has been observed for years but a University of California Los Angeles School of Public Health report said a new review of existing studies seems to confirm it, with long-term and current smokers at the lowest risk.

The review also found that the effect seems to extend beyond cigarettes to pipes and cigars, and possibly to chewing tobacco, and that it persisted among those who had stopped smoking years earlier.

What would cause such a preventive effect is not well understood, said the report in the Archives of Neurology, but studies on test animals suggested two possibilities.

One is that carbon monoxide or other agents in tobacco smoke exert a protective effect and promote survival of brain neurons that produce dopamine, which allows muscles to move properly and is lacking in Parkinson's cases.

Cigarettes may also somehow prevent the development of toxic substances that interfere with proper neurological functioning.

http://thewelltimedperiod.blogspot.com/2007/07/cig-day-keeps-parkinsons-away.html

[Lyric]

1. Dude....you might as well lay down now

and smile when the Mack Truck of OUTRAGE! runs you over. Look! HERE IT COMES!

:hide:

[The Straight Story]

9. I ain't endorsing smoking :) Just came across this while looking up something for the wife

on Parkinson's and thought it interesting.

Have seen other studies before on it as well. Some agree, some don't.

I just found it interesting :)

[kestrel91316]

2. Ack. Oh, well, we all pick our poisons.

Mine are good wine, decaf, dark chocolate, and the occasional Flaming Hot Cheetos.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Well sure.

Smokers die from cancer before they have a chance of getting Alzheimer's.

[The Straight Story]

12. I honeslty have never met a smoker with a cancer, but many who don't smoke with it

Not saying it does not lead to cancer, but fuck everything today gives ya cancer :)

[pnwmom]

15. I don't know how you could have lived to adulthood without knowing

any smokers with cancer, since cancer causes something like half of all deaths.

We know a smoking couple who both developed cancer from decades of smoking. The wife died of lung cancer and the husband is still alive, but with an artificial box that produces robot-like speech for him, because the cancer destroyed his vocal cords. Fortunately, their children never became smokers.

I hope they figure out what it is about cigarettes that might produce a protective effect against Parkinson's, because otherwise the cure (cancer) would be worse than the disease (Parkinson's.)

[The Straight Story]

18. the ONE person I knew who smoked and died of cancer, had pancreatic cancer

not sure how that related to her smoking. I have know several non-smokers who died of breast cancer and stomach cancer though.

[pnwmom]

26. Smoking happens to be one of the biggest risk factors for pancreatic cancer,

according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Two of the other factors (race and gender) may have something to do with higher rates of cigarette smoking in those groups.

I have a relative that died of that, too. It's a horrible disease that kills very quickly.

http://pathology.jhu.edu/pancreas/BasicRisk.php?area=ba

There are some factors which can increase the risk of acquiring the genetic mutations that may potentially result in pancreatic cancer. These risk factors are outlined in the table below. You will notice that coffee and alcohol are not listed. Currently there is not strong evidence to suggest that consumption of either substance will increase your risk for developing cancer of the pancreas.

Cigarette smoking
Cigarette smoke contains a large number of carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals). Therefore, it is not surprising that cigarette smoking is one of the biggest risk factors for developing pancreatic cancer. For example, smoking during college has been associated with a 2-3 fold increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

Age
The risk of developing pancreatic cancer increases with age. Over 80% of the cases develop between the ages of 60 and 80.

Race
Studies in the United States have shown that pancreatic cancer is more common in the African-American population than it is in the white population. Some of this increased risk may be due to socioeconomic factors and to cigarette smoking.

Gender
Cancer of the pancreas is more common in men than in women. This may be, in part, because men are more likely to smoke than women.

SNIP

__________________

So now you can honestly say that you do know someone with a likely smoking-related cancer. On top of the smokers you know who must have died of heart disease, the risk of which is also much higher among smokers.

[DaveJ]

4. Cutting ones nose to spite your face?

There's got to be a better way of preventative care. Is there any way to predict Parkinson's before it occurs? I don't think it is hereditary. So I'm not sure this info about cigarettes helps any.

[BlueJazz]

5. Straight Story...I Love you.....Yes....It's back to smoking !!!

Those sweet little round "bundles of Joy" are mine again....Mine to love and enjoy.

[Kazak]

14. One a day, mind...

;)

[Breeze54]

6. One less thing I have to worry about.

:P

Thanks!!

:smoke: & :toast:

[JVS]

7. Does second-hand smoke help?

[Lex]

8. I know a long-time smoker with Parkinson's.

So certainly it can happen to smokers too.

[gateley]

10. My dad smoked for 40 years, quit the last 40, and died of Parkinson's. nt

[The Straight Story]

11. I would say people die more with parkinson's than from it

but then maybe I am wrong. That is what I have heard in my research of it for the wife.

[pnwmom]

16. How old was he when he died? Over 90? If he hadn't quit, he probably

would have died at a much younger age.

[gateley]

22. Maybe, or maybe not. I've seen people live to a ripe old age puffing away, but

I mainly posted that because as usual, it's never as easy as it sounds.

[NV Whino]

17. Well, obviously he didn't smoke long enough

(Snarkiness aside, my sympathy for for loss.)

[gateley]

23. Ha! He would have laughed at that - and thanks for your kind words. nt

[rudy23]

13. Well that settles it---time to take up smoking.

I'm sold.

[Trillo]

19. But you can only legally buy them, in the U.S., in packs of 20.

Something about the stamp on the pack, merchants are disallowed from breaking the package and selling one at a time.

[DaveJ]

20. Good point, the perfect amount for a day of addiction

n/t

[NashVegas]

21. "In All Things, Moderation"

Tobacco is like any natural product: it has practical uses.

The former tobacco company researcher who went public a study demonstrating, for once and all, that nicotine has addictive qualities and the companies are well aware of it now has his own bio-chemical company devoted to finding (and of course, publicizing) the "good" qualities of nicotine & tobacco, and finding ways to synthesize and distribute the drug by non-smoking-related means.

That he can patent. BTW, his former employer owns a 4% stake in his new company.

Neat how that works, isn't it?



I haven't had a smoke since June 23. Occasionally I'll have a little Nicorette chew. And I still think anti-smoking activists are major assholes.

[KT2000]

24. These are good clues

it is too bad that people respond to this info as a smoking non-smoking issue, when in fact it is information that should help us in understanding the mechanisms behind Parkinson's.

Certain pesticides are known to cause Parkinson's. As I recall it is those that block the acetocholine receptors on cells. The likely relevancy of smoking is that nicotine affects the dopamine receptors.

We need to understand that we live in a soup of chemicals, some of which mimic other chemicals in the body and either block the receptors or fill up the receptors and overload the body with what it thinks is the body's desired chemical. An example would be estrogen - many chemicals lock into the estrogen receptors. This could happen when someone uses certain lawn care chemicals - some of those chemicals are shaped like estrogen and fit right into the estrogen receptors. The body is tricked into behaving as if it is overloaded with estrogen.

[Mike03]

25. Five years ago...

I was telling people not to be surprised if nicotine turned out to be the antidote to dementia and its neurological cousins, but recent studies have demonstrated that while nicotine inhibits cerebral plaques it enhances the growth of Tau protein tangles. I chew nicotine gum, and am probably addicted to it, and am trying to quit.

[Mike03]

27. I don't understand. Why carbon monoxide rather than nicotine?

Nicotine and the antidepressant Welbutrin (Wellbutrin) should both act on these receptors, and maybe the pill will be just as good as smoking, or also some nicotine replacement therapy might prevent it as well.

What I really want to know is if drugs that work on dopamine can prevent Alzheimers disease.

[tuvor]

28. Tell that to Michael J Fox.

[Generic Brad]

29. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger

I never appreciated that old saying until now.

[Raejeanowl]

30. My Former Father-In-Law Developed Parkinson's

After he quit smoking. Of course, he'd given himself COPD, too. But no cancer.

[soothsayer]

31. Cuz you don't live long enough to get Parkinson's?

I keed!

[durrrty libby]

32. People find all kinds of crazy rationalizations to justify what they

know in their heart to be true. Smoking kills people and destroys families

I've cared for many Hospice patients dying of lung cancer. COPD is no picnic either

No more excuses. Just quit people. Just quit.

[devilgrrl]

33. What's this shit about smoking and Parkinson's?

I don't understand.

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. My dad had Parkinson's

and he smoked.