the only problems i have with smoking are A) carcinogens B) carbon monoxide C) other toxins (heavy metals, etc.) all of which can simply be solved by either nicotine patches or electronic cigarettes (though to get the full benefit some pharmaceutical company should make a extract and filter out any harmful chemicals kinda like how i could get reservatol by drowning my self to death in wine(hyperbolic so don't scream at me) or by taking a simple pill) (though they're still addictive and should be done in moderation but then again "everything in moderation"
Nicotine is merely one medicinal component of tobacco. Here are some of the other effects of tobacco smoke which are not due to nicotine:
1. Strong
MAO B inhibition (40%).
2. Upregulation (near doubling) of key internal antioxidants and detox enzymes:
glutathione, catalase and SOD.
3. Carbon monoxide in low concentration (as delivered by tobacco smoke) acts as a
signaling mechanism in human biochemical networks to increase blood circulation, oxygenation and reduce blood clotting, inflammation, and apoptosis (see also on protective role of CO in
pre-eclampsia and
"Therapeutic CO" whitepaper,
miracle medicine,
anti-inflammatory,
mithochondrial ROS inhibition, protects against
endotoxic shock,
multiple sclerosis,
IBD,
hypertension,
neurotransmitter,
beneficial digestive effects...).
4. Nitric oxide in low concentrations (as obtained from tobacco smoke) acts as
neurotransmitter, signaling to cardiovascular system to increase blood supplies to peripheral tissues (Viagra effect).
5. Increase and slowdown of decline with age of
DHEA, testosterone and
pregnenolone (pdf).
6. Multitude of
anti-inflammatory effects, only some of which are due to nicotine (e.g.
additional therapeutic effects of tobacco smoke vs nicotine alone for
rheumatoid arthritis in animal experiments)
7. Variety of
neuro-protective effects in a review article (more on
neurotrophic,
neuroprotective,
anti-amyloidosis effects).
Regarding various smoking 'scare stories' about 'heavy metals' or radioactive elements,... that's typical antismoking sleight of hand (pinhole vision trick). Namely, while there are trace amounts of such elements in tobacco smoke, they originate from soil, rain or plain air which affect all agricultural products, not just tobacco plant. The main difference is that a smoker absorbs only about 100mg of tobacco matter per pack of cigarettes (less than a third of aspirin pill spread over 75 m^2 of internal lungs surface), while we all ingest thousands times greater quantities of agricultural matter, with everything that it absorbed from soil & rain, every day from just eating and drinking. You ingest more of the same scary elements from one almond or blueberry than from a pack of cigarettes. More interestingly, considering the strong effect of
upregulation of our internal detox & antioxidant enzymes (item #2 above), the detox rates for those same toxins are doubled in smokers, yielding in far greater detox gain than the extra 100mg of ingested tobacco smoke matter (with its trace ammounts of argicultural/soil toxins), resulting in a massive
net plus for the smoker. This is analogous to having a gun in a war zone (or at night in the wrong part of a town) -- while there is theoretical chance that gun will explode when you fire it and injure you, it is still provides vastly greater net benefits of pretection in such environments.
In fact, the latter effect is behind much of the statistical correlations, on
non-randomized (self-selected) samples, between smoking and 'smoking
related diseases -- people exposed to industrial/environmental toxins & carcinogens, or those genetically sensitive to them, will instinctively use tobacco smoke as
self-medication since the doubled detx rates provide tangible relief. Hence such statistical correlations on non-randomized samples are of the same kind as the correlations between any therapeutic/protective substance and subsequent health problems e.g. people using blood pressure meds will have more strokes than those not using them, while the ex-users of such meds will fall in between. See also related posts in other imminst threads:
here,
here,
here,
here, where much of of your concerns about smokings were discussed in detail (with refs to papers) -- in short:
antismoking is a scam based on
junk science and
smoking is good for you.
