Tag: Smoking

Did you know that breathing in smoke from solid fuels or tobacco may increase your risk of dying from chronic liver disease?

Ka Hung Chan, Derrick Bennett, Kin Bong Hubert Lam and Zhengming Chen

Chronic liver diseases (CLD), such as liver cirrhosis and liver cancer, affect more than 800 million people worldwide, with a third of these living in China. Smoke from solid fuels (e.g. coal and wood) and tobacco contains high concentrations of thousands of toxic chemicals. When breathed in, these chemicals can reach and harm major internal organs, including the liver.

Continue reading “Did you know that breathing in smoke from solid fuels or tobacco may increase your risk of dying from chronic liver disease?” →

Circulating cotinine concentrations and lung cancer risk evaluated in 20 international cohorts

Tricia L Larose, Arnulf Langhammer and Mattias Johansson, for the Lung Cancer Cohort Consortium (LC3)

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide, accounting for 2.09 million cases and 1.76 million deaths in 2018. Two of the most prolific cancer epidemiologists of our time — Sir Richard Doll and Sir Bradford Hill — identified smoking as the biggest cause of lung cancer in their seminal report, “Smoking and Carcinoma of the Lung”, published in the British Medical Journal in 1950. Nearly 70 years later, smoking remains the predominant risk factor for lung cancer, as well as for 15 additional cancers and other non-communicable diseases.

Continue reading “Circulating cotinine concentrations and lung cancer risk evaluated in 20 international cohorts” →

Does fathers’ smoking give their future offspring asthma?

Cecilie Svanes, Jennifer Koplin, Francisco Gomez Real, and Svein Magne SkulstadSlide1

A new study shows that asthma is three times more common in those who had a father who smoked in adolescence, and twice as common in those whose father worked with welding before conception. Can these numbers be reduced by including adolescent boys in public health prevention programmes?

It is well known that a mother’s environment plays a key role in child health. The hypothesis that health and disease originate early in life has dramatically increased our understanding of this issue. However, recent research suggests that this may also be true for fathers; i.e. father’s lifestyle and age appear to be reflected in molecules that control gene function. There is growing evidence from animal studies for “epigenetic” inheritance, a mechanism whereby the father’s environment before conception could impact on the health of future generations. Continue reading “Does fathers’ smoking give their future offspring asthma?” →

Waterpipe smoking might be just as harmful as smoking cigarettes

Reem Waziry and Elie Akl

Elie_Akl[1] Reem Waziry headshotWaterpipe, also known as shisha, goza, narghile, arghile and hookah, is a traditional method for smoking tobacco. While it originated in Turkey, India and Iran, its use has spread on a global level over the past decade to the point of being labelled a global epidemic.

There are a number of explanations for the global spread of waterpipe tobacco smoking. First, people use it as a way to socialize, as it is smoked in groups. Second, the production of sweetened and flavoured tobacco (Maassel), resulting in aromatic and smooth smoke, can make it more appealing than cigarette smoking. Another major reason is a common misconception that waterpipe tobacco smoking is not harmful, or is less harmful than smoking cigarettes. Continue reading “Waterpipe smoking might be just as harmful as smoking cigarettes” →