People who simultaneously attempt to stop smoking, reduce their sodium intake and increase exercise may be more successful than those who try to change these lifestyle factors one at a time, Texas-based researchers report.

Dr. David J. Hyman, of Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and colleagues came to this conclusion after studying success rates in a publicly funded behavior modification program. The 289 participants were between 45 and 64 years old and two-thirds were women. All were African American, smokers, and had high blood pressure.

As described in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the goal was to have them stop smoking, cut back on the amount of sodium in their diet, and increase physical activity

Source: www.tobacco.org and Reuters
Date: 2007-06-22
Author: SOURCE: Archives Of Internal Medicine, June 11, 2007., 996-2006
URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSCOL27112720070622 ID: 248813

Smoking rates for teenagers in New Zealand have halved since the smoking ban came into place.
Figures in a new report show that the number of teenage smokers has dropped from 28.6% in 1999 to 14.2% currently.
Damien O'Connor Associate Health Minister said For the first time, more than half of teenagers aged 14-15 years have never smoked. One of our health sector targets is to push the figure of never smokers higher and with the continued support of some very committed individuals and organisations we will continue to focus effort and resources on achieving this aim.

Mr O'Connor said he is particularly pleased that no group is being left behind teenage smoking rates are dropping among both boys and girls.
Smoking bans in the workplaces, bars and restaurants, has proven to be successful in helping people quit. The introduction of graphic images on cigarette packets early next year is also expected to be effective, particularly in stopping young people taking up smoking in the first place, Mr O'Connor said.

Sources: ASH daily news and New Zealand Government, 26 June 2007
Article Link: http://tinyurl.com/24ov49

Subtitle: Quitting Smoking While Recovering From Alcoholism May Help Brain, Study Shows

For people in alcoholism recovery, not smoking may be a boon to the brain.
A new study of recovering alcoholics shows bigger strides in mental test scores in nonsmokers than smokers.
The study, published in July's edition of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, included 25 recovering alcoholics, 12 of whom were current smokers.
Participants, who lived in San Francisco, were about 45-57 years old, on average. Most were male veterans.
The researchers included Timothy Durazzo, PhD, of the San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center and the University of San Francisco's radiology department.
Durazzo's team tested participants' mental skills, including learning, memory, and efficient thinking.
Source: tobacco.org and WebMD
Date: 2007-06-25
Author: Miranda Hitti WebMD Medical News
URL:
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20070625/smoking-may-hinder-alcoholism-recovery?src=RSS_PUBLIC ID: 248846

Several case control studies have probed a link between cigarette smoking and subsequent multiple sclerosis (MS). Data collection and statistical methods have varied, and frequently, case numbers have been small. Publications relating to MS and smoking are reviewed and combined where comparable methods have been used. Metanalysis of six informative studies show significantly elevated odds or rate ratios, ranging from 1.22 to 1.51, depending on the method of analysis, confirming that the risk of MS is increased for those who smoke prior to disease onset, as measured by commencement of symptoms. A variety of direct causative mechanisms are discussed, but an indirect association through health adverse conduct is favoured.

Sources: www.tobacco.org and Multiple Sclerosis Vol. 13, No. 5, 610-615 (2007)
Date: 2007-06-27
Author: C.H. Hawkes
URL: http://msj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/13/5/610 ID: 248973

A recent poll has revealed that the link between smoking and cot death is underestimated by 70% of UK parents, leading to suggestions that health visitors and nurses may need to increase their education efforts.
The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) polled parents two weeks after the UK public places smoking ban was put in place.
Most parents with children up to 3 years of age did not know that tobacco smoke might increase the likelihood of cot death.
A baby who is regularly exposed to an hour of secondhand smoke a day is twice as likely to die from cot death as a baby who lives in a smokefree home.
However 47% of parents living in the UK thought smoking conferred no risk or a much lower risk than is actually the case.
Low incomes families and those living in the north of England were more likely than wealthier families and those living in the south to underestimate the risks.
FSID-funded cot death research Peter Fleming from Bristol University said: "We all know about the danger that secondhand smoke poses to the public and yet we expose children to cigarette smoke in the home.
"Parents need to be aware of the threat that secondhand smoke poses to their children and protect them by enforcing their own smokefree zones at home."
FSID Director Joyce Epstein added: Even if parents do smoke, they can have a really positive effect on reducing the risk of cot death by making their home a smokefree zone and always going outside to smoke.

Sources: ASH daily news (www.ash.org.uk) and Nursing in practice, 16 July 2007
Article Link: http://tinyurl.com/22af7m

More than 100 are deemed potentially harmful, study says

More than 100 of 599 additives that might be in cigarettes are potentially harmful, with some making cigarettes even more addictive and others making it difficult for people to detect tobacco smoke in their midst, a new study contends.

Trade secrecy about the ingredients in cigarettes makes it impossible to know how many of the additives that appear on a 1994 list are actually in tobacco products today. Still, there's plenty of reason to be alarmed, said study lead author Dr. Michael Rabinoff, an assistant research psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"They're making people less aware of tobacco [smoke] and making the cigarette more addictive," he said. "There is so much going on with these additives that it's an uncontrolled experiment on billions of people around the planet." . . .

The study was released online this week and will appear in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health. It is being released as Congress considers whether to allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products. On Wednesday, a Senate committee approved a bill granting such oversight.

Sources: www.tobacco.org and HealthDay [HealthScout]
Date: 2007-08-03
Author: Randy Dotinga HealthDay Reporter, editors@healthday.com
URL: http://healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=606934

Pharmacists and retailers have enjoyed massive surges in sales of nicotine replacement therapy products, including patches, chewing gums and inhalators, since July last year.

Market analysts Mintel say that 100m has already been spent on smoking cessation products this year, and the market will be worth 140m by 2011.

Asda have reported a 415 per cent rise in purchases of nicotine patches compared with July last year, and made five weeks' worth of sales in 24 hours last Sunday when the ban came in. Also compared against sales figures for July last year, Sainsbury's reported a 234 per cent increase and Tesco said sales had trebled.

Phil Wells, head of smoking cessation at Superdrug, where sales are up 400 per cent from July 2006, estimated that 2 million smokers were trying to give up a year ago, but said that figure had risen to 7.5 million.

Lloyds Pharmacy has doubled sales of stop-smoking products as well as bookings for its cessation clinics, which are run in conjunction with the NHS.

At Boots, sales have risen 195 per cent since July 2006. "We have experienced a significant growth in customers taking up the free smoking consultations with our trained pharmacists and health advisers since the ban came into force," a spokesman said.

Sources: ASH (www.ash.org.uk) and The Independent, 08 July 2007
Article Link: http://tinyurl.com/2fy4em

- CNN Money
A Chinese company is seeking FDA approval for a battery-powered cigarette that delivers nicotine without the toxins, reports Business 2.0 Magazine. August 13, 2007

By Kara Newman, Business 2.0 Magazine

For smokers who want to quit, there are pills, patches, and gum. But how about an electronic nicotine delivery device that looks and feels like smoking -- without the smell or the carcinogens?

That's what Hong Kong-based Golden Dragon Group is selling. Known as Ruyan (meaning "like smoking"), the electronic cigarette is a $208 battery-powered atomizer.

Cartridges containing pure nicotine, available in three strengths and good for some 350 puffs each, cost about $4.

Inhale, and the Ruyan -- powered by a Motorola (Charts, Fortune 500) chip -- turns the nicotine into smokelike vapor. "We don't claim smoking cessation, just smoking substitution," says Scott Fraser, vice president of Golden Dragon subsidiary SBT, which came up with the Ruyan.

But "it could be used to ratchet down nicotine consumption."

Ruyan was launched in China in 2004, and last year its sales reached $36.5 million. Turkey quickly became Golden Dragon's second-largest market, followed by Israel and Australia.

Working with an unnamed U.S. partner to get FDA approval, Golden Dragon expects to double current sales by the end of the year. Morgan Stanley analyst David Adelman says the e-cigarette would be lucky to snare even 1 percent of the U.S. cigarette market.

Still, that would add up to a healthy (cough) $750 million.

Sources: Globalink and CNN Money

A new study by the Brunei Health Education and Promotion Unit has revealed that smoking shisha for 45 minutes is the equivalent of smoking fifty cigarettes.

Some short term effects of smoking shisha are that after 45 minutes of smoking the levels of carbon monoxide, nicotine, and the smoker's heartbeat rate will be higher than that of a cigarette smoker. It will also expose the smoker to twice the level of carbon monoxide and three times the level of nicotine, compared to one tobacco cigarette.

This is because the average time a person smokes shisha is 50 minutes as opposed to one cigarette, where it usually only takes five minutes. Similar to tobacco smoking, a shisha smoker is at risk of addiction as well as being exposed to cadmium, a chemical element known to cause cancer. Therefore shisha smokers face a much higher risk of lung and mouth cancers.

Sources: ASH daily news (www.ash.org.uk) and Brunei Direct, 25 July 2007
Article Link: http://tinyurl.com/yspnur

Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Jul 18;(3):CD005231.
Stead L, Lancaster T.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: It may be reasonable to try to reduce the harm from continued smoking amongst smokers unable or unwilling to quit. Possible approaches to reduce the exposure to toxins from smoking include reducing the amount of tobacco used, and using less toxic products. The interventions evaluated in controlled trials have predominantly attempted to reduce the number of cigarettes smoked.
OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of interventions intended to reduce the harm from smoking on the following: biomarkers of damage caused by tobacco, biomarkers of tobacco exposure, number of cigarettes smoked, quitting, and long-term health status.
SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group Specialised Register using free text and MeSH terms for harm reduction, smoking reduction and cigarette reduction. The initial search was in March 2006, updated in March 2007.
SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials of interventions in tobacco users to reduce amount smoked, or to reduce harm from smoking by means other than cessation. Outcomes were change in cigarette consumption, markers of cigarette exposure and any markers of damage or benefit to health, measured at least six months from the start of the intervention.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We pooled trials with similar interventions and outcomes using a fixed-effect model. Other studies were summarised narratively.
MAIN RESULTS: The 13 included trials all evaluated interventions to help smokers cut down the amount smoked. Self-reported reduction in cigarettes per day (CPD) was validated by reduction in carbon monoxide (CO) levels. Most trials tested nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to assist reduction. No eligible studies evaluated the use of potentially reduced-exposure products. In a pooled analysis of eight trials, NRT significantly increased the odds of reducing CPD by 50% or more for people using nicotine gum or inhaler or a choice of product compared to placebo (n=3273, odds ratio [OR] 2.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.55 to 2.62). Where average changes from baseline were compared for different measures, CO and cotinine consistently showed smaller reductions than CPD. Whilst the effect for NRT was significant, small numbers of people in either treatment or control group successfully sustained a reduction of 50% or more. Use of NRT also significantly increased the odds of quitting (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.46 to 2.47). One trial of bupropion failed to detect an effect on reduction or cessation. Four trials of different types of advice and instructions on reducing CPD did not provide clear evidence.
AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is insufficient evidence about long-term benefit to give firm support the use of interventions intended to help smokers reduce but not quit tobacco use. Some people who do not wish to quit can be helped to cut down the number of cigarettes smoked and reduce their carbon monoxide levels by using nicotine gum or nicotine inhaler. Because the long-term health benefit of a reduction in smoking rate is unclear this application of NRT is more appropriately used as a precursor to quitting.

Plain language summary
People who smoke may try to reduce the harm that smoking causes by cutting down or by smoking less damaging products People who smoke may be unwilling or unable to stop smoking completely. Cutting down the number of cigarettes smoked daily or smoking less damaging products may reduce the harm caused by smoking. It may also be a step towards stopping smoking completely. This approach might, however, undermine the importance of quitting which has very clear health benefits. We found thirteen controlled trials that tested ways to help people to cut down the number of cigarettes they smoked. We did not find any randomized controlled trials which tested the effects of using products designed to reduce damage, such as Potentially Reduced Exposure tobacco Products (PREPs). Ten of the trials tested nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) as an aid to cutting down. Our combined analysis of eight of these trials (3273 smokers) found that nicotine replacement roughly doubled the odds of reducing the number of cigarettes per day by 50% or more. However, levels of carbon monoxide and cotinine (markers within the body of exposure to tobacco smoke) did not reduce by the same proportion. This suggested that there may not be a direct relationship between the reduction in number of cigarettes and the reduction in harmful effects. Although NRT helped significantly more people to cut down, few were able to sustain the reduction over time. NRT also nearly doubled the odds of quitting completely. One trial failed to find a benefit of bupropion either for cutting down or for quitting. Four trials tested advice or instructions for reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day, and did not find clear evidence of a significant effect. We did not find any trials which reported the long-term effects on health of cutting down, and it remains uncertain how much health benefit there is from cutting down.

http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD005231/frame.html

The EU has recently released a report on smokeless tobacco and is soliciting responses. To see the report and submit responses, go to
http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=smokelesstobacco

Gigi Harrington said she couldn't have quit smoking 157 days ago after smoking for nearly 40 years without the support she got from fellow quitters in an online discussion forum.
"The reason for my quit is this site," the Kansas City resident said of www.freeclear.com. "I couldn't have done it if I didn't have this site. I've tried to quit I don't know how many times." ...


http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Jul/20070713Feat002.asp