Addiction Solution Source

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has shown new signs of regulating the tobacco industry by placing a federal ban on flavored cigarettes effective September 22, 2009.

This means that it is illegal to manufacture, import, market or distribute candy, fruit and all flavored cigarettes. According to health and federal authorities, flavored cigarettes are more appealing to youth and simply encourages smoking. It doesn’t take a ‘rocket scientist’ to see that flavored cigarettes are a gateway for children and young adults to become addicted to tobacco/nicotine.

According to research reported in the Journal of Headache and Pain, smokers that smoke more than five cigarettes a day trigger more migraine headache attacks than those who smoke less than five.

Can you believe this photo!

A nurse helps her patient light up a cigarette in a 1943 Saturday Evening Post cover. (Image courtesy of UCLA)

A recent UCLA School of Nursing study is the first to reveal the devastating consequences of smoking on the nursing profession. Published in the November–December edition of the journal Nursing Research, the findings describe smoking trends and death rates among U.S. nurses and emphasize the importance of supporting smoking cessation programs in the nursing field.

“Nurses witness firsthand how smoking devastates the health of their patients with cancer and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases,” said principal investigator Linda Sarna, D.N.Sc, a professor at the UCLA School of Nursing. “Yet nurses struggle with nicotine addiction like the rest of the 45 million smokers in America. We are concerned that nurses who smoke may be less apt to support tobacco-control programs or encourage their patients to quit.”

Sarna led a team of researchers who analyzed data from the Nurses’ Health Study, a historic study on women’s health. Launched at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the mid-1970s, the study relied upon surveys completed every two years by 237,648 female registered nurses about their health, including smoking habits.

“The Nurses’ Health Study is the largest study of women’s health in the world,” Sarna said. “From a workforce perspective, however, the findings also hold a mirror up to the well-being of nurses, the largest group of health care professionals in the country.”

The current UCLA research explored changes in smoking trends and death rates among female nurses enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study between 1976 and 2003, a span of 27 years.

The research compared the differences in death rates among nurses who never smoked, former smokers and current smokers. In all age groups, roughly twice as many current smokers had died in comparison to nurses who never smoked.

In a recent research report, Kristen Saxone-Moeller from the University of Melbourne, stated that Australians with mental illness smoke at four times the rate of the general population.

The research also found that:

* Smokers with mental illness consumed 50 per cent more cigarettes a day than the general population, averaging 22 cigarettes a day;

* The heaviest smokers in the group smoked up to 80 cigarettes in a day;

* Almost three in five (59 per cent) said they wanted to quit smoking;

* Almost three quarters (74 per cent) said they wanted to cut down;

“Smoking compounds many of the health problems already experienced by people with mental illnesses,” she said. “Combined with drug therapies that often make them overweight, they are at even greater risk of diabetes, heart attacks and strokes if they smoke.”

“The biggest cause of death among people with mental illness is not suicide, it is cardiovascular disease.”

Overall cost to Australia showed more than $30 billion a year but little was being done to help people quit.

According to recent research, cigarette companies have manipulated the menthol content in cigarettes to lure young people into smoking.

Menthol masks the harshness and irritation of cigarettes, allowing delivery of an effective dose of nicotine, the addictive chemical in cigarettes. There was a deliberate strategy to recruit and addict young smokers by adjusting menthol to create a milder experience for the first time smoker.

For example, Marlboro introduced Marlboro Milds in 2000, with a lower menthol concentration while raising the menthol content in Marlboro Menthol, favored by older smokers. Menthol brands with the greatest market share growth among young adults had the lowest menthol levels (Marlboro Milds and Newport) among the brands tested.

This is another example of the cynical behavior of the tobacco industry to hook teens and African Americans to a deadly addiction. This is after the industry told the American public it had changed its marketing practices.

March 12, 2008, is No Smoking Day in the UK. To find out more information and to receive tips on quitting, go to: www.nosmokingday.org.uk

In the United States, the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout® is on the third Thursday of November (November 20, 2008). The event challenges people to stop using tobacco and raises awareness of the many effective ways to quit for good.

Research shows that smokers are most successful in kicking the habit when they have some means of support, such as nicotine replacement products, counseling, prescription medicine to lessen cravings, guide books, and the encouragement of friends and family members.

Despite that, only about 1 in 7 current smokers reports having tried any of the recommended therapies during his or her last quit attempt.

Older smokers are motivated to quit smoking by very different factors than are younger smokers.

Dr. Oz recently appeared on the Oprah show and offered a program to quit smoking. Along with Dr. Daniel Seidman and Dr. Mike Roizen, there is a helpful section on the Oprah web site for smokers who want to overcome both the “before” and “after” parts of living smoke-free. Motivated?

Four Steps to Quit Smoking

1) Addiction Self-Exam

2) Prepare yourself to go smoke-free,

3) Coping with life – This is one of the most important sections and covers coping with withdrawal, avoiding relapse, dealing with other smokers and relieving your anxiety.

4) Resources and support

Many smokers believe they need a cigarette most when their stress is highest. But is that belief true?

Researchers speculate that the stimulating effects of nicotine could cause smokers to experience nicotine withdrawal each night, which may contribute to disturbances in sleep.

Prenatal and adolescent exposure to nicotine has harmful effects on auditory and visual attention in adolescents.