I’m 18 years old female. You preach so many things. Are you a smoker?

I never preach anything. I try to give you the right information and facts and it is you who has to decide what you want to do. I am not at all afraid to give particulars about me if asked in a polite way.

Yes, I have smoked for a long time although as a chemist or clinical toxicologist I knew all the dangers of smoking. But, I’m also a human being with strengths and weakness. Fortunately I could stop now and then for few months and I started always once again.

Smoking has affected my health when I was 56 years old. So I told it is over and after that I have not smoked even a single cigarette. Now, I’m a non-smoker more than six years.

My information is not simply theories. It is based on my experience as well as the experience of the many persons.

Smoking and passive smoking is bad to your health. It is scientifically and medically proved completely.

Tell me now, are you a smoker? Stop smoking and there are many wonderful things in our world to enjoy.

What is cough?

Coughing is an important way to keep your throat and airways free, but excessive coughing may be because of an underlying disease or disorder. Some coughs are dry and others are mucus productive.

Acute coughs are sudden, caused by cold, flu or sinus infection and may last two to three weeks and chronic cough lasts longer than this.

The other sources of coughs include:

• Cigarette smoking
• Passive smoking
• Exposure to environmental pollution
• ACE inhibitors (drugs used to control blood pressure)
• Asthma
• Allergies
• Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease
• Lung infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia
• Lung tumours
• Sinusitis
• Dust
• Environmental air pollution
• Side effects of drugs

Children may develop coughs from diseases or causes which usually do not affect adults, such as croup, bronchiolitis, infection of the lower respiratory system caused by respiratory syncytial virus. Passive smoking, blockage of the airway with food or small toy or balloons and emotional or psychological problems can also cause cough in children.

Croup is a common respiratory problem seen in children between 1 and 3 years old, the symptoms are hoarseness, barking cough, striedon, a high pitched sound heard when breathing in and difficulty in breathing and is caused by a virus which affects the throat and upper airways. It can recur till the children become 5 or 6 years old and it could be avoided by humidifying the room where the children used to stay. If the symptoms are severe, go to your doctor, he may give medicines and if necessary oxygen also.

Bronchiolitis is the infection of small air passages and is also caused by a virus and it affects the children below 2 years. The symptoms include difficulty in breathing, rapid breathing and wheezing and it is better to go to the doctor if the breathing frequency increases considerably.

Remember, a cough is a symptom, but not a disease, a right diagnose must find out the real reason and the treatment with antibiotics could also be very carefully done only if pneumonia is diagnosed. Otherwise, aspirin, Paracetamol or ibuprofen is used to reduce fever and pains and headaches and children below 16 years should not take aspirin. Children could also be treated in the same way. If you use over-the-counter drugs, note always the content so that the patient, for example, should not get double the dose of Paracetamol because most of the over-the-counter drugs may also contain Paracetamol.

Codeine and dihydrocodeine can also be used in cough treatment.

If cough is a side effect of a drug contact your doctor immediately. I have seen persons who have coughed 10 years or more unnecessarily.

For common cold or cough you can also use grandmother’s mixtures which will help in most of the cases.

I want to stop smoking. Could you give me tips?

The adverse effects from smoking include:

• Various Cancers
• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Passive smoking is a risk factor for others including pregnant and children

Smoking is an addiction and you must have the will to stop it and you must believe that also. The best way is to stop it immediately. If you want to reduce it slowly it is difficult to stop. Every individual is different. If you cannot stop it immediately it is better to try to stop it gradually. It is never late stop smoking.

Once you quit smoking, the health benefits could be felt by you immediately, within 24 hours, which could motivate you to be free from smoking.

Many million people want to stop smoking in our world, but 2% to 3% only quit successfully for 3 to 12 months. If we think about stop smoking scientifically, at first, we must know all the adverse effects of smoking. The decision to stop smoking is the next step. You must always remember there are no safe tobacco products.

The tips to stop smoking include:

• Set a stress free date for stopping
• Find a partner who may be a friend, relative or colleague for motivation and support
• Inform all so that nobody offers you a cigarette
• Make a plan for deep breathing exercise or other physical activities; consult with your doctor. Exercises give you more energy and help to reduce stress
• Healthy food and consult with your doctor or dietician about the possible weight gain also
• Avoid the triggers to smoke. They are stress, after a meal, after a coffee or after a drink. You must decide how you deal with the triggers.
• Very dangerous are the cravings which can last for 3 to 5 minutes. Deep breathing, a walk, your music or a telephone call to somebody can help to overcome the cravings. If possible avoid chips, other snacks and chocolates or take in small quantities.
• Everyday be proud of you and this gives you positive energy to master this.
• You must be in a position to manage the nicotine withdrawal symptoms. There are few helps for that – nicotine nasal sprays, nicotine inhalers, nicotine patches and nicotine gum.

Other therapy forms like psychological therapy may also be useful. The first fourteen days are very difficult and here you may need help. The risk of relapsing is the first three months after stopping. But with a strong will you can stop completely. It takes ten years for your body to recover completely from the effects of smoking. So stop smoking now.

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.

Beedi

Tobacco, hand rolled in Tendu leaves, are called Beedies. It is the cheapest cigarettes produced in Asia and more than 85% is produced in India and from the 240 millions of tobacco users approximately more than 100 million people are smoking beedies.

Beedies are more dangerous than cigarettes because they contain more tar, nicotine and other cancer producing substances, carbon monoxide, ammonia and also contain the cancer producing nitrosamines. One third of 6,00,000 TB deaths in India go to the account of Beedi smoking. But, surprisingly, they have less tobacco than in cigarettes.

Beedies have three times more nicotine, produce three times more carbon monoxide and have 5 times more tar than cigarettes. The lack of filter and also the lack of porosity of the leaves used for wrapping may be the reason for this.

The risk of the cancer of the lung, mouth, oesophagus and stomach is higher than those of a non-smoker.

The risk for chronic bronchitis is four times increased and there is also three times higher risk of heart attack than the non-smokers.

The illiterate and poor in India are the majority of beedi smokers. Others also smoke beedies.

The argument of economy and jobs allow us to produce tobacco, opium from poppy seeds e.g. in Afghanistan and also cocaine in South America. Who all earn huge money out of this nobody knows but the poor man is suffering and dying. Unfortunately money and moral starts with “m”. Try to be clean and if many think like this we could solve any problem.

That is why it is very important to generate awareness.

The risk of passive smoking is same like in cigarettes; it is equally bad or more than bad as in normal beedi smoking. Particularly, it is very bad for children and pregnant.

There are more than 2,90,000 beedi growers in India and around 4.5 million people are employed in beedi industry, without suitable alternative job opportunities, it is impossible to ban it immediately. Moreover, these are the jobs of rural India. But, it should be started slowly with right projects so that within a decade we could ban it.

The tobacco industry tries to lure women and youth to smoke in India. As a clinical toxicologist I have seen lot of problems in these groups. With the ban in different countries, they do still very aggressive advertisements to get young, new customers.

Beedies are banned in some countries and in most of the countries it is available even with different flavours. I used to laugh when they try to convince me by saying that it is healthy because it is not rolled in paper but in a leaf, a natural product. Of course, it is with a natural product, but brings unnatural death for most of the smokers.

What are the occupational hazards of the beedi industries? Mostly the women and the girls in rural India do this job; they suffer a lot, not because they are smoking but because they breathe the dust there. Moreover, this is the most unorganized industry in India without any control from any side. Most of this work is done in the home by women and girls and the result is child labour and large number of school dropouts among girls. Boys are not at all involved in this work, what a funny world?

Here it is not only the beedi smokers who should be helped but also the girls and women engaged in this industry. It is our national duty to do lot for the health of women and girls who may be the double losers as passive smokers as well as due to their occupational risks.

There is no safe tobacco product in our world.

What are dangerous, smoking cigarettes, pipes, cigars, beedies or use of chewing tobacco?

All are dangerous to our health. It depends how much and how often you smoke. With cigars, beedies or chewing tobacco you absorb more nicotine than cigarettes. Pipes are usually not smoked very often and so the absorption of nicotine is low compared to other forms. If the tobacco reaches our stomach most of the nicotine is absorbed in the intestine and this is the case with chewing tobacco.

Nicotine is one among several substances and tar which is a mixture of several active chemical compounds in tobacco smoke. There are about 3000 chemicals which are found in tobacco smoke and many are dangerous to our health. Out of these 50 are considered cancerous. Long time exposure to the substances like carbon monoxide, cyanide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons cause the damage of lungs, arteries and responsible for several other complications including cancer.

The poisonous metal cadmium is present in tobacco and it is deposited in kidneys and bad to our health. There are radioactive carcinogens also present in tobacco smoke and they are lead-210 and polonium-210.

Although the paper is bad in cigarettes beedi is worse than cigarettes. In many countries beedies are banned. Beedies are more dangerous than cigarettes because they contain more tar, nicotine and other cancer producing substances, carbon monoxide, ammonia and also contain the cancer producing nitrosamines. One third of 6,00,000 TB deaths in India go to the account of Beedi smoking. But, surprisingly, they have less tobacco than in cigarettes.

Beedies have three times more nicotine, produce three times more carbon monoxide and have 5 times more tar than cigarettes. The lack of filter and also the lack of porosity of the leaves used for wrapping may be the reason for this.

Passive smoking is more dangerous than active smoking. Do not smoke when there are non-smokers. If children are present then smoking should be avoided completely. This is applicable strictly to your visitors also.

Breast Cancer, Risk Factors and Symptoms

Risk Factors

Risk Factors are several conditions which makes it likely to get a particular disease. Always remember that having one or even more risk factors does not necessarily mean one will develop breast cancer. At the same time many women with breast cancer have no known risk factors. That means we do not know now many risk factors yet and we must look critically everything which may cause breast cancer.

The known Risk Factors include:

• Inherited genes which increase cancer risk – certain gene mutations, the most common genes are BRCA1 and BACR2.
• A personal history – if you have in one breast the chance of getting in the other breast is very high.
• A family history – if mother, sister or daughter has breast cancer the risk is more. But remember many of the diseased have no family history of breast cancer.
• Increasing age – risk of breast cancer increases with age.
• Late first pregnancy – if one gives birth her first baby after 35 years, the chances of developing breast cancer may increase.
• Overweight and Obesity – these increase the risk of breast cancer
• Early puberty and menstruation - getting first menstruation till 12 is considered a breast cancer risk.
• Late menopause – if the beginning of menopause is after 55 years, this increases the risk of developing breast cancer.
• Postmenopausal hormone therapy – women who take the combination therapy with estrogen and progesterone to treat the symptoms of menopause have an increased risk of breast cancer.
• Oral contraceptives – women with many known risk factors must avoid the anti baby pills with hormones.
• Radiation exposure – if you receive radiation therapy or taken X-rays at any time in your life, later it is a risk factor for breast cancer. Electricity power lines, all radiation sources including cell phones and above all the cell phone towers radiate much and women with risk factor must avoid this. In these cases a plausible scientific analysis is possible after many decades and therefore it is better to avoid.
• Food habit – it plays an important role. One must eat what her/his metabolism needs.
• Alcohol – avoid too much of alcohol
• Smoking
• Being a woman – it is the biggest risk factor. If you understand everything it is a manageable risk for many.


Symptoms of breast cancer

• A lump or thickening in the breast which feels different from the surrounding breast tissues
• Discharge from the nipple
• Inverted nipple
• Flaking or peeling of the nipple skin
• Change in the shape or size of the breast
• Changes in the breast skin
• The breast skin becomes red or orange

In many women the recent mammogram may be normal; even then, if you have the symptoms go to the doctor immediately.
If we diagnose earlier there are many good treatments to heal you.

Risk factors one can control

They include:

• Diet
• Weight
• Alcohol consumption
• Smoking
• Exposure to estrogens, the female hormones, without break as in hormone replacement therapy in post menopause for many years including xeno-estrogens
• Oral contraceptives – it is big business. There are many alternative methods
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Exercise

Learn to avoid these by changing one’s lifestyle. This is worth doing for your health.
Here I have written everything in a very simple way so that everybody could read and understand. I do counseling in this field also to give you tailor-made proposals for everything including metabolism based individual diet plan and environmental assessment. In the coming days there will be separate pages for the counseling information in my web site. Visit www.aaronverlag.com

Our motto is your good Health…

Tobacco - Cigarettes

Everybody knows that tobacco or tobacco products are not good for our health, cancer producing and passive smoking are worse than smoking. I have also seen proud men who didn’t even want to stop smoking although there are small children in their families. These are false prestige. Here I write about cigarettes and the dangers connect to it. In the coming days I will write about the other tobacco products like Beedies, cigars and pipe smoking. It is never too late to stop smoking and I too stopped smoking when I got my heart attack in February 2004.

Cigarettes - Active and passive smoking

What are the health effects of tobacco using?

Tobacco is used in different ways, smoked, snuffed or chewed and the major health effects from smoking are lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The cause of worldwide premature death is a preventable risk.

What are the other diseases connected to smoking?

These are:

• Several forms of cancers including lung, kidney, larynx, breast, bladder, pancreas, stomach, liver, cervical, colorectal, gall bladder, blood and small intestine cancer
• Cardiovascular diseases are stroke and heart attack.
• Respiratory diseases like cold, chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
• Birth defects by pregnant smoker’s baby.
• Blindness because of cataracts
• Increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease
• Brain shrinkage
• Impotence because of narrow arteries

Is pipe or cigar smoking as harmful as smoking?

The risk of lung cancer is lower because they inhale less smoke than cigarette smokers but their risk of lung cancer is several times higher than the non-smoker.

The paper used to roll the tobacco contributes also to the bad effects of the cigarettes.

What about chewing tobacco?

The risk of chewing tobacco is mouth and jaw cancer.

What are the immediate benefits of non-smoking?

The blood pressure, pulse and body temperature become normal, heart attack risk decreases and also blood circulation improves. The smell and taste nerves are working better and this ability is enhanced.

What are the substances from tobacco which makes it dangerous?

Nicotine is one among several substances and tar which is a mixture of several active chemical compounds. There are about 3000 chemicals which are found in tobacco smoke and many are dangerous to our health. 50 of these chemicals are cancer producing. Long time exposure to the substances like carbon monoxide, cyanide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons cause the damage of lungs, arteries and responsible for several other complications.

What about the risk of chewing tobacco?

Similar chemicals for the health dangers are present in chewing tobacco and they are generated during the curing of tobacco. Here the tobacco reaches our stomach all the nicotine present goes into our blood and in this case it is worse than the cigarettes.

Are there radioactive chemicals in tobacco smoke?

There are radioactive carcinogens also present in tobacco smoke and they are lead-210 and polonium-210.

What are the reasons of nicotine addiction?

The rest nicotine which is in the cigarette smoke after burning is very small and it is enough for physical and psychological dependence. Amount of nicotine absorbed is dependent on the quality of tobacco, inhalation of the smoke and use of filter. Nicotine is a stimulant and it is a main factor for continuous smoking.

The chain smokers hate the cigarettes because it is only addiction, but no enjoyment. But they smoke further to supply nicotine to the body only.

Many want to stop smoking, but without success, why?

If you want stop smoking, stop drinking or regulate diet you must have the strong will power. With this power only you can convince your brain to stop. If this could not be done, it is lost from the beginning. When you stop smoking, the first 14 days are very difficult. Nicotine is normally produced in small quantities in our body to make nicotine amide which is very important for our metabolism. In smokers, it is no more produced in the body because it is available from the cigarette. Once the body’s own production is started you have the feeling or urge not to smoke. There is nicotine patch or nicotine gum to supplement nicotine for these 14 days.

Are low tar or light or ultra light cigarettes better than the normal cigarette?

There is no evidence that low tar, light and ultra light cigarettes are safer than normal cigarettes. This is also a way to attract young women to smoke because many think light means safe. Many think, like reduced fat or coca cola light, light cigarettes are safe and so the acceptability becomes more and more. It is a marketing strategy, only one product is less attractive. We may not like it if one product is available, many varieties with light labels and many may accept and become a prey for that. If you attend some of these marketing seminars, you may think that you are in Mars that is entirely a different world.

In Western countries the young women and men are not very much interested in smoking because of the strong campaign from the governments and NGOs. The result is fewer cigarettes are sold. The big cigarette companies are planning to attract Indian, Chinese and other Asian young women to explode their sales. Many young women think it a fashion to smoke like in the Western countries during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Now many young women hate cigarettes because they have understood the dangers of smoking. 2.6% Indian women in India smoke regularly cigarettes. If we take our population is 1150 millions, it is nearly 3 crores women smoke. Compare the total population of Germany is 8.1 crores.

Men, don’t be happy, you must also stop it.

Has cigarette contains only tobacco or some other chemicals also?

Few years ago there was a big discussion between scientists, government agencies and the tobacco industry about these foreign substances in cigarettes. There are several additives used by the tobacco industry which make a person addict to cigarettes. The opinion of the scientists is that it is not only the nicotine but also other added substances cause addiction. Nothing came out at last because the interests of the different groups are different. The billions of VAT played a vital role here.

Has cigarette smoking influence on human reproduction?

There are evidences of the poisons from tobacco smoke damage the sperm cells. Tobacco plants contain cadmium, a poisonous heavy metal which replaces the essential element zinc from DNA polymerase which plays a role in sperm production. It also damages testes.

Are pregnant woman affected by tobacco smoke?

Spontaneous abortions happen often when the pregnant woman smoke and there are other dangers to the health of the foetus.

Passive smoking has the same danger to the foetus.

Is sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) connected to tobacco smoking and passive smoking?

Passive smoking is connected to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Infants who die in SIDS have nicotine and cotinine, the metabolite of nicotine in their lungs and it is from passive smoking. Smoking during pregnancy and passive smoking of infants are equally harmful. Passive smoking is dangerous even the parents are non-smokers to the infant.

The nicotine goes to the mother’s milk and so also it reaches the infant. Passive smoking means you inhale the smoke present in the room which is smoked by others and it is equally or more dangerous like normal smoking because you inhale continuously.

Positive smoking is a big environmental problem.

What is the relationship between smoking and drinking alcohol?

The simple rule is if you drink alcohol you smoke more and if you smoke more, and then you drink more alcohol. The risk of oral cancer and other cancers increase very rapidly. Smokers drink in average 2.5 times more than the non-smoker. It is a devil’s circle.

What is the reduction of life of smokers?

Smokers live 2.5 to 10 years less than the non-smokers.

Food that reduce High blood pressure

What is normal blood pressure?

Several countries have fixed this 140/90 and World health organization gives 160/95 and the values above these indicate high blood pressure. Blood pressure is an important marker of heart health and it keeps also the heart healthy.


Which vegetables and fruits maintain or reduce the blood pressure?

Celery is known to reduce the blood pressure, but it has more sodium than other vegetables which can increase the pressure. Take one to two stalks and this is enough for a day.

Garlic is also important to reduce the blood pressure and the mechanism is dilation of the arteries. Onion and garlic have adenosine which is a smooth muscle relaxant. Raw or cooked, both are effective to control the blood pressure.

Fibres and antioxidants of vegetables and fruits are capable of reducing the blood pressure. Comparatively the fibres and antioxidants of fruits are more effective than those of vegetables.

Which is the function of vitamin C and magnesium?

Vitamin C and magnesium are the substances which remove the waste in the arteries so that they do not become narrower. Both, we have to take along with food, since human beings cannot synthesize vitamin C in our body. However many animals can do it, that is why the animals have very rare or no heart attack. One or two oranges and one banana a day is enough to get both.

What about the plant oils?

Olive oil, sesame oil and all the oils which are rich in monounsaturated or omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are good to reduce the blood pressure. But, intake of oils is very important. Complete avoidance of oil will lead to heath problems.

Coconut oil has almost 90% saturated fatty acids, but out of that 70% are middle and short chain fatty acids and these are healthy. It is not necessary to avoid completely coconut or coconut oil. Sesame oil, coconut oil and groundnut oils are the best oil for our Indian way of preparing meals. The reason is they are heat stable.

100 g of any oil has approximately 890 kcals and so you must be careful with the daily oil intake.

Never forget, the dose makes the poison.

What role does calcium und potassium play in blood pressure?

Calcium is important to have normal blood pressure and it also functions as a natural diuretic to mild the effects of much sodium intake. Calcium supplement gives contradictory results, 80% benefit from the supplementation and 20% the blood pressure goes marginally up. Dairy products containing low fat and vegetables are also good sources of calcium. Talk to the dietician to know the position exactly.

Potassium can also reduce blood pressure and it is proved that low potassium diet increases blood pressure. The mechanism behind is that too little potassium in the blood lead to sodium retention and high blood pressure. Fruits, vegetables and fish are rich in potassium.

Why do physicians advise persons with high blood pressure to avoid salt and salty food items?

The problem is that sodium narrows our arteries, thus increases blood pressure. We cannot avoid sodium completely because it is an essential element and it is better to avoid very salty food like processed foods, pickles, chips, snacks and salted fish.

Why alcohol causes high blood pressure?

If you have high blood pressure it is advisable not to drink alcohol. If you drink more than a glass beer (180 ml) then the benefits of low sodium diet and also the medicines for high blood pressure are cancelled. Alcohol is not essential to our body, we can completely sacrifice it.

What about coffee?

For 70 to 80% of the persons who have blood pressure we cannot find the reason. Mental stress is also an important factor for blood pressure. Coffee with mental pressure increases the blood pressure surely. Wait 45 minutes after drinking coffee, measure your blood pressure and find out whether coffee fits to your blood pressure or not. Two cups of medium strong coffee may be consumed daily.

What about the normal risks like overweight?

Overweight, smoking, mental stress and less physical activity are the big risks for high blood pressure. Too much drinking of alcohol is also a risk factor. Try to avoid all these risks and with correct food you can decrease the blood pressure.

What about tobacco and its products?

Tobacco and its products are harmful and should be avoided completely. This is applicable to passive smoking also. Never smoke in a room where non-smokers are there, particularly children and pregnant.

What about non-vegetarian food?

You can eat, but not too much. Eat meat without visible fat. Poultry without skin is better. One of the best meats is Turkey meat without skin. All meat from animals including milk has enough saturated fats and cholesterol. At the same time, all plant food has no cholesterol.

Never accept this argument – ear meat, but you must sacrifice coconut.

What about weight reduction?

Reduce the weight, it is always good for everything. Enough physical activities are a must.

Have you forgotten anything important?

Yes, you must drink lot of water, 3 l to 4 l in a cold country and 4 l to 6 l in a hot country. If you do lot of physical work and sweat much, then you must drink more than 6 l water. I mean, more than 6 l fluid intake per day and out of that at least 70% must be pure drinking water.