September 15, 2007
Cigarette additives may make it rougher to quit
A recent study helps to elucidate the effects of the nearly 600 additives that might be found in cigarettes. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles examined a list of cigarette additives provided by the tobacco industry in 1994. While it remains unclear how many of these additives are included in cigarettes on the market today, the researchers concluded that 100 out of the 599 analyzed are potentially harmful.
Their effects include facilitating nicotine delivery to the lungs, numbing the lungs to reduce the need for smokers to cough, increasing the potency of the nicotine already found in cigarettes, and disguising the secondhand smoke released by cigarettes. To read more about the study, which will be published in the September edition of the American Journal of Public Health, click here.
Smokeless tobacco: Unsafe alternative
A recent study provides additional evidence that switching to smokeless tobacco as a way to minimize the health effects of tobacco is a risky strategy. Researchers combined data from six studies, which included 420 smokers and 182 smokeless tobacco users, all of whom were trying to decrease their tobacco use. They compared the levels of various carcinogens in participants’ urine samples, and found that the smokeless tobacco users had equal or higher amounts of these particular carcinogens. Click here to read more or click here to view the abstract of the study, which is published in the August edition of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Quitting on impulse may be smokers’ best bet
Recent research has demonstrated that smokers who quit spontaneously had a greater likelihood of success than those who planned a quit attempt. Researchers compared the experiences of 918 smokers who had made at least one quit attempt with those of 996 former smokers. They found that almost half of smokers reported that their most recent quit attempt was spontaneous, and that the odds of quitting successfully for at least six months were higher for unplanned attempts. The authors suggest that understanding these seemingly contradictory results lies with considering differences in motivation and the tension that may build up prior to a quit attempt.
from: Tobacco Control Network http://www.ttac.org/TCN/tfp/2007/august-2007/cessation.html