Can tobacco affect our brain?

I read about tobacco and brain from NIDA Info Facts. Everybody must read this. How Does Tobacco Affect the Brain?

Cigarettes and other forms of tobacco—including cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff, and chewing tobacco—contain the addictive drug nicotine. Nicotine is readily absorbed into the bloodstream when a tobacco product is chewed, inhaled, or smoked. A typical smoker will take 10 puffs on a cigarette over a period of 5 minutes that the cigarette is lit. Thus, a person who smokes about 1 1/2 packs (30 cigarettes) daily gets 300 “hits” of nicotine each day.

Upon entering the bloodstream, nicotine immediately stimulates the adrenal glands to release the hormone epinephrine (adrenaline). Epinephrine stimulates the central nervous system and increases blood pressure, respiration, and heart rate. Glucose is released into the blood while nicotine suppresses insulin output from the pancreas, which means that smokers have chronically elevated blood sugar levels.

Like cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, nicotine increases levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which affects the brain pathways that control reward and pleasure. For many tobacco users, long-term brain changes induced by continued nicotine exposure result in addiction—a condition of compulsive drug seeking and use, even in the face of negative consequences. Studies suggest that additional compounds in tobacco smoke, such as acetaldehyde, may enhance nicotine’s effects on the brain. A number of studies indicate that adolescents are especially vulnerable to these effects and may be more likely than adults to develop an addiction to tobacco.

When an addicted user tries to quit, he or she experiences withdrawal symptoms including powerful cravings for tobacco, irritability, difficulty paying attention, sleep disturbances, and increased appetite. Treatments can help smokers manage these symptoms and improve the likelihood of successfully quitting.

Apart from this the risk of lung cancer and other cancers are also there. All these are good arguments to stop smoking or to avoid all forms of tobacco.

Cigars

Which are more dangerous to our health, cigarettes or cigars? Both are dangerous but cigars are more dangerous than cigarettes. 75% of the cigar smokers are occasional smokers than cigarette smokers and this is the reason why cigar smokers are exposed to smaller amounts of the poisons and carcinogens. It is the only reason for the fewer instances of disease and fatality due to cigar smoking.

Normally a single cigarette contains less than a gram of tobacco, but cigars vary in size and may have between 5 and 20 grams of tobacco. So to say, one cigar, in extreme case, may be equal to one pack with 20 king size cigarettes.

The manufacturing process of cigars differs from cigarettes and the tobacco must be fermented and this produces more tobacco specific nitrosamines which are the most carcinogenic (cancer causing) compounds known. Moreover, cigar wrappers are not as porous as cigarette wrappers which make the combustion incomplete. These two factors are the reason for higher concentrations of ammonia, carbon monoxide, tar and nitrogen oxides in cigars than in cigarettes.

Cigar contains much more nicotine than a cigarette, an average cigarette contains between one to two mg of nicotine and that of an average cigar has 100 to 200 mg, some with more than 400 mg. Cigar smoke is more alkaline than cigarette smoke; it readily breaks down in saliva which allows the easy absorption of nicotine through the lining of the mouth in quantities sufficient to cause addiction.

Smoking one cigar a day increases the risk for cancer; the cancers noted include lip, tongue, mouth, throat and larynx, so to say the whole oral cavity. Lung cancer and pancreas and bladder cancers are the other diseases which are often noted.

The risk for early tooth loss is very high.

Cigar smokers have twice the risk to have erectile dysfunction or impotent as non-smokers. This is because of the adverse effects of the smoke on circulation, nervous system and hormones.

Passive smoking has the same adverse effects, including the erectile dysfunction; the best solution is stop smoking cigar.

There is no safe tobacco product in our world.