According to researchers, the number of cancer deaths among Europeans has decreased by 8% since the beginning of the decade. This is attributed largely to the fact that smoking rates have drastically decreased.
This drop in deaths applies to all of Europe, with those who are middle-aged seeing the greatest drop. Deaths from lung and other cancers related to smoking saw the greatest drop, researchers said.
Cancer deaths were at their highest in 1988 in the European Union and there has been a steady decrease since that time. Carlo La Vecchia, head of epidemiology at Mario Negri Institute and associate professor at the University of Milan in Italy led the research team. For every 100,000 men, there were 168 deaths, and 96.9 deaths per 100,000 women. Between 2000 and 2004, this was a drop from 185.2 per 100,000 for men and 104.8 per 100,000 for women.
Cristina Bosetti, head of cancer epidemiology at the Mario Negri Department of Epidemiology said, "The favorable trends in cancer mortality in Europe have continued over the most recent years. This is due mainly to the falls in lung and other tobacco-related cancers in men, the persistent decline in gastric cancer, but also appreciable falls in colorectal cancer."
Though new smoking laws may be tough on smokers, it seems there is some positive side to these changes of events…
[Via: Bloomberg]
One of the major reasons for not quitting smoking is the fear of gaining weight. Nicotine certainly has the effect of suppressing appetite, but quitting smoking and dieting at the same seems like impossibility. Most doctors would not recommend doing both at the same time. New research on the subject is suggesting something different. It seems that the combination of smoking cessation programs with weight-control programs might be a recipe for success.
At Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Bonnie Spring and her team of researchers did a pool on 10 random clinical trials, where 2,233 smokers (154 of them men) were divided in two groups. Some were enrolled only in smoking cessation programs, while others took part in both smoking cessation and weight control programs. Those who took part in combined programs had a 29% higher likeliness to stop smoking than those who were only in the smoking cessation program. In the period after the program ended, six to 14 months later, the statistical difference between the two groups was not all that different.
In short term, those in the combined program gained less weight, gaining 2.1 pounds less after three months than those taking part in only the smoking cessation program. Once again there was not much of a statistical difference after six months had passed.
The conclusion to this research is that enrolling in a weight-control program while attempting to quit smoking will mean that you will put on fewer pounds, and possibly have a greater chance of staying off cigarettes after three months. Quitting smoking is all a question of self-control, and both smoking cessation and weight-loss require a great amount of this.
[Via: boston.com]
A new option may be soon be available to smokers who want to quit. A new injectable vaccine is to hit the market from drug maker GlaxoSmithKline.
The vaccine is called NicVAX, and it blocks nicotine from entering the brain, stopping smoking from creating a feeling of pleasure.
Trials have shown a high success rate in stopping smokers from getting back on the wagon if they have managed to quit once.
Products that are available on the market currently do not have consistent success rates.
The relapse rate within a year is fairly high, at nearly 90% according to figures from the American Lung Association.
The vaccine is injected and creates anti-bodies that are bound to the nicotine molecules, which prevent them from entering into the brain.
[Via: Telegraph.co.uk]
According to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, even though a lot of progress has been made in reducing the number of smokers in the United States over the past few decades, during the past few years this decline has stopped.
Between 1998 to 2008, in the United States the percentage of smokers has dropped from 24.1 to 20.6 percent.
The report states that, "during the past five years, rates have shown virtually no change." The smoking rate has actually risen slightly from 19.8% in 2007 to 20.6% in 2008.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC director said, "Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., and we know what to do. We want to provide support to states and localities to implement proven programs, and if we do that, we can save literally millions of lives in the decades to come."
Smoking levels are higher among those who do not have a college education. The director of CDC claims that the lack of funding for smoking cessation programs is the main cause of this problem…
[Via: usnews.com]
Research has shown that smokers wanting to quit have found the best success rates using patches and lozenges, along with a bit of counseling.
Lozenges which deliver small doses of nicotine, along with the help of patches, and the assistance of a mental health professional, show great results for quitting for a day, a week and even for six months.
Megan E. Piper of the University of Wisconsin's Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention led the research project documenting the short and long term success of smokers receiving counseling sessions and this type of treatment in the long and the short term. The treatment included nicotine lozenges, an antidepressant, a placebo, and a combination of patches and lozenges, Piper and her colleagues concluded, "Only the nicotine patch plus lozenge produced a significantly higher abstinence rates at six-month post quit than did placebo."
All of the treatments had some kind of positive effect to an extent, but this was mostly due to the counseling.
So if you are a smoker and ready quit, consider this option and of course the counseling to help you along the way.
[Via: examiner.com]
