E-cigarette contains toxic metals

Significant amounts of toxic metals, including lead, leak from some e-cigarette heating coils are present in the aerosols inhaled by users, according to a study from scientists at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In the study, the scientists examined e-cigarette devices owned by a sample of 56 users. They found that significant numbers of the devices generated aerosols with potentially unsafe levels of lead, chromium, manganese and nickel.

Chronic inhalation of these metals has been linked to lung, liver, immune, cardiovascular and brain damage, and even cancers. E-cigarettes typically use a battery-supplied electric current that passes through a metal coil to heat nicotine-containing "e-liquids," creating an aerosol-a mix including vaporized e-liquid and tiny liquid droplets.

Vaping is popular in part because it provides the nicotine "hit" and the look and feel of tobacco-smoking but without smoking's extreme health risks. Evidence that vaping isn't entirely safe continues to accumulate. Recent studies have found that e-cigarette liquids contain flavorings and other chemicals that harm cells in standard toxicology tests.

Of the metals significantly present in the aerosols, lead, chromium, nickel and manganese were the ones of most concern, as all are toxic when inhaled. The median lead concentration in the aerosols, for example, was about 15 μg/kg, or more than 25 times greater than the median level in the refill dispensers. Almost 50 percent of aerosol samples had lead concentrations higher than health-based limits defined by the Environmental Protection Agency. Similarly, median aerosol concentrations of nickel, chromium and manganese approached or exceeded safe limits.

E-cigarette heating coils typically are made of nickel, chromium and a few other elements, making them the most obvious sources of metal contamination. Aerosol metal concentrations tended to be higher for e-cigarettes with more frequently changed coils-suggesting that fresher coils give off metals more readily.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Habits that increase the risk of cancer

Forty per cent of cancer deaths could be prevented with simple lifestyle changes. Quitting smoking, eating healthier and boozing less would stop the disease. Scientists suggest habits responsible for cancer with tobacco proving the biggest burden. Other habits, includes excessive UV radiation, obesity and not exercising enough can be blamed.

Researchers at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, said the total amount is greater than 38 per cent because many deaths involved two factors. Even 'small improvements' would reduce the risk of dying prematurely from cancer, the Australian researchers claimed. Their findings, which also highlighted irresponsible sun tanning as a cause, were derived from an analysis of cancer deaths.

Obesity and infections were responsible for five per cent of the deaths while not exercising enough was blamed for 0.8 per cent.Dr David Whiteman, lead researcher of the study published in the International Journal of Cancer, found that the bad habits fueled 41 per cent of cancer deaths in men and 34 per cent in women because men smoke and drink more, spend more time in the sun and don't eat healthy foods.

The researchers concluded that the following eight habits are responsible for 38 per cent of cancer deaths. Researchers at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, said the total amount is greater than 38 per cent because many deaths involved two factors. The habits are-Smoking, Poor diet, Boozing, UV radiation, Obesity, Infections, Inactivity and Hormones.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Effects of smoking on facial beauty

The latest evidence shows that smoking actually makes you less attractive to the opposite sex. Telltale wrinkles from puffing on a cigarette may be to blame for people judging non-smokers to be better-looking.This was the result of a study asking people to pick the most attractive of twins where one smoked and the other did not. Men found female non-smokers the most attractive in two-thirds of cases, while women chose non-smoking men as the most attractive.

Smoking can speed up the normal ageing, even after only a decade. Nicotine causes narrowing of the blood vessels in the outermost layers of the skin, while the chemicals in tobacco smoke damage collagen and elastin, fibres which give the skin its elasticity. The wrinkles this causes are added to by facial expressions made when smoking- such as pursing the lips when inhaling or squinting to keep smoke out of your eyes.

To test if smokers did look worse, the researchers asked more than people to pick the smoker and non-smoker from sets of twins. After finding smokers were easily identified, they created prototype pictures to make sure the twins’ facial expressions or poses could not alter the results. Using these images, tweaked by a computer to standardise how smokers and non-smokers looked, they asked which people found ‘more attractive’. The results show men and women both found the opposite sex more attractive when they did not smoke. But women also judged other females who did not smoke as more beautiful.
        haleplushearty.blogspot.com

E-cigarette with nicotine changes adrenaline in nonsmokers heart

Healthy nonsmokers experienced increased adrenaline levels in their heart after taking one electronic cigarette with nicotine but there were no increased adrenaline levels when the study subjects used a nicotine-free or empty e-cigarette.

Unlike cigarettes, e-cigarette have no combustion or tobacco. Instead, these electronic, handheld devices deliver nicotine with flavoring and other chemicals in a vapor instead of smoke.
E-cigarettes produce fewer carcinogens than tar of tobacco cigarette smoke, they also produce nicotine.

E-cigarette users have elevated sympathetic nerve activity which increases adrenaline directed to the heart and are more susceptible to oxidative stress. Researchers used heart rate variability obtained from a prolonged, non-invasive heart rhythm recording. Heart rate variability is calculated from the degree of variability in the time between heartbeats.

This variability may be indicative of the amount of adrenaline on the heart.
heart rate variability test to link increased adrenaline activity in the heart with increased cardiac risk. People with known heart disease and people without known heart disease who have this pattern of high adrenaline levels in the heart have increased risk of death.

In the first study to separate the nicotine from the non-nicotine components when looking at the heart impact of e-cigarettes on humans, researchers studied healthy adults who were not smoking. Researchers measured cardiac adrenaline activity by assessing heart rate variability and oxidative stress in blood samples by measuring the enzyme plasma paraoxonase PON1.

They discovered that exposure to e-cigarettes with nicotine, but not e-cigarettes without nicotine, led to increased adrenaline levels to the heart, as indicated by abnormal heart rate variability. Acute electronic cigarette use with nicotine increases cardiac adrenaline levels. And it's in the same pattern that is associated with increased cardiac risk in patients who have known cardiac disease and even in patients without known cardiac disease.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Smoking causes anxiety and phobia

Smoking may make smokers more vulnerable to suffering from phobias and other types of chronic fear like post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD.

Scientists have discovered that smoking tobacco can impair the brain's ability to repress fear-related memories, making smokers unable to deal with fear and anxiety after a traumatic experience.

Dangerous chemicals in tobacco may interfere with neurotransmitter and neurons in the brain. Neurotransmitters are responsible for controlling fear.

Smoking is a common habit among people who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder PTSD. The more people smoke, the less they were able to inhibit fear response.

Smoking impairs the repression of fear related memories, when there is no danger. Long-term smoking leads to higher deficit in inhibiting fear responses.

Smoking changes neurotransmitter balances in the brain, which are necessary for successful safety learning.
Enhancing dopamine in the brain and putting an end to tobacco smoking can put an end to fear associated with smoking.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

How to detoxify lungs

Tobacco smoking is the major cause of lung disease, other causes are air pollution, dusts and lower respiratory infections.

Lungs are constantly exposed to killer pollutants and microbes that get deposited from the air inhaled from the atmosphere.

Smoking changes pink lungs into black, regular detoxification of lungs can reverse the colour and keeps the lungs healthy. Lungs can be detoxify by:

Putting end to smoking and exposure to smoke, nicotine and tobacco smoke can compromise lungs function and increase the risk of lung cancer.

Engaging in breathing exercises that promote deep breathing can detoxify the lungs. The exercise increases blood flow to the lungs.

Drinking enough water, ginger juice carrot juice and lemon juice supply blood to the lungs, this prevents bacteria infections.
        haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Amazing facts about tobacco

•According to the World Health Organisation, tobacco is the world's
largest cause of preventable death.

•The total tax revenue from tobacco in the UK in 2015-16 was £12billion.

•Estimates of the direct annual cost to the NHS of tobacco-related diseases range from £3-6bn.

•King James IV in 1604 described smoking as a “custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs.

•The average adult in China smokes 4,124 cigarettes a year, the world’s highest figure.

•There are about a billion smokers in the world of whom 80 per cent are male.

•The word tabacco in Spanish was originally used for the pipe or tube through which native Americans inhaled tobacco smoke.

•Tobago took its name from tobacco, possible because of its cigar or pipe-like shape.

•The word tobacco was first seen in English in 1577. Tobacconist, in 1600, meant a heavy smoker.

haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Prevention of colon cancer

Colon is the lowest part of the digestive system, colon cancer is the growth of cancer from the colon or rectum. Common symptoms of colon cancer are: fatigue, weight loss, blood in the stool and change in bowel movement.

Colonoscopy is one of the best way to treat colon cancer if it is discovered early. This type of cancer can develop without symptoms it is good to go for regular screening for early detection.

This cancer is common in people with sedentary lifestyle and tobacco smokers. Eating food low in fibre, high in fat, calories and preservatives may increase the risk of colon cancer.

It can be prevented by:
• regular screening
• regular exercise
• maintaining healthy weight
• eating balanced diet
• drinking enough water
• avoiding  alcohol and tobacco products