Reply #95: Really? [View All]

1) A majority of studies suggest that smoking decreases appetite.

One cigarette a day can really help the diet which, of course, can help prevent obesity related ailments

From Wiki:

Several types of "Smoker’s Paradoxes",<42> (cases where smoking appears to have specific beneficial effects), have been observed; often the actual mechanism remains undetermined. Risk of ulcerative colitis has been frequently shown to be reduced by smokers on a dose-dependent basis; the effect is eliminated if the individual stops smoking.<43><44> Smoking appears to interfere with development of Kaposi's sarcoma,<45> breast cancer among women carrying the very high risk BRCA gene,<46> preeclampsia,<47> and atopic disorders such as allergic asthma.<48> A plausible mechanism of action in these cases may be the nicotine in tobacco smoke acting as an anti-inflammatory agent and interfering with the disease process.<49>

Evidence suggests that non-smokers are up to twice as likely as smokers to develop Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease<50>. A plausible explanation for these cases may be the effect of nicotine, a cholinergic stimulant, decreasing the levels of acetylcholine in the smoker's brain; Parkinson's disease occurs when the effect of dopamine is less than that of acetylcholine. In addition, nicotine stimulates the mesolimbic dopamine pathway (as do other drugs of abuse), causing and effective increase in dopamine levels. Opponents counter by noting that consumption of pure nicotine may be as beneficial as smoking without the risks associated with smoking e.g. CO poisoning.

Considering the high rates of physical sickness and deaths<51> <52> among persons suffering from schizophrenia, one of smoking's short term benefits is its temporary effect to improve alertness and cognitive functioning in that disease.<53> It has been postulated that the mechanism of this effect is that schizophrenics have a disturbance of nicotinic receptor functioning.<54> Rates of smoking have been found to be much higher in schizophrenics.<55>

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BTW on the whole modertion thing..

My brother who quite some time ago now smokes socially when the family gets together (many of my sibs smoke) and when we get together in the summer we usually have a bond fire with pork chops and beer.. Also whenever we all hang out during the year. I myself smoke *maybe* one to two cigs a year on average..