Alcohol and tobacco; are the use of these social drugs risk factors for type 2-diabetes?

Alcohol and tobacco abuse are two risk factors among many for type 2-diabetes. Most scientists agree that these two increase the risk of type 2-diabetes. As we know, there are many other risk factors which can influence type 2-diabetes. Normally you are not having all the risk factors. Some risk factors may apply to you and the others may not. Therefore, it is always good to know all the risk factors before we deeply go to alcohol and tobacco.

The type 2-diabetes risk factors include:

• Race and ethnicity
• Hereditary
• Personal history
• Age, above 40 years
• Overweight or obesity
• Waist circumference above 88 cm for women and 103 cm for men
• Diabetes during pregnancy
• Excess food intake
• Less physical activity
• Alcohol
• Tobacco smoke

Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol – two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women – may lower the risk of diabetes. But, if you drink more it is a risk factor for type 2-diabetes. Too much alcohol can affect the pancreas and disturbs the ability to secrete insulin. In course of time this leads to type 2-diabetes.

Tobacco or tobacco smoke is as harmful as excess alcohol. Use of tobacco and tobacco products can increase the blood sugar levels and this leads to insulin resistance. The smokers have double the risk of developing type 2-diabetes when compared to nonsmokers. Passive smoking must also be completely avoided and is more dangerous than smoking.

Alcohol need not be a must every day. Never offer to persons who do not want to drink alcohol. Now and then one or two drinks or one glass beer or one glass red wine or one glass champagne is allowed. Remember always consuming more than this can make you an addict. That is why your doctor does not recommend alcohol.

Increased risk of type 2-diabetes is another important reason to stop smoking completely. It is advisable not to use any tobacco products. There is no compromise like in alcohol.

What vegetables and fruits maintain or reduce 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.

Celery is known to reduce the blood pressure, but it has also sodium which can increase the pressure. Take one to two stalks and this is enough.

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.

All leafy vegetables are good to reduce the blood pressure. All fruits are also good. 5 to 6 servings of fruits and vegetables are good in a day.

You must have a good lifestyle. Avoid alcohol and tobacco. Keep your weight normal. Have enough physical activity.

Above all, you must avoid all forms of stress. You must know how to manage your stress well. Avoiding mental stress reduces the blood pressure and keeps it normal.

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.

I am a chain smoker. What is the connection between smoking and heart disease?

Smoking plays an important role in heart disease deaths. It is about 30% in USA and may be more in the poor and developing countries.

The adverse effects of nicotine include:

• Decreased oxygen in the blood, this less to the heart
• Too much of carbon monoxide
• High blood pressure
• Increased heart rate
• Blood clotting risk is increased
• Trigger of atherosclerosis, thus heart disease

Do not forget the cancer risk from tobacco. There are no healthy tobacco products.

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.

Men’s Cosmetics

Men’s cosmetics, is it necessary? The cosmetics companies say yes because it is a big market for them. It is like half of the Asian women smoking for cigarette companies. Their argument is that the men’s skin is thicker and oilier and therefore has different needs. Many companies have developed specific lines of skincare for men.

Taking bath daily in the morning and evening is a must for men. A mild shampoo and a mild soap are good to remove the dirt and the dead cells on the skin. Shave after the bath or shower. Use a mild after shave lotion.

A moisturizer is always important. If the skin is very oily do not use the moisturizer. Toner and acne concealer powders are bad. The so called experts say after a good make up the men should not touch their face. It is a wit – if you watch somebody we touch our face several times in an hour – such wonderful unnatural suggestions for men to stop their reflex reactions.

A man can use deodorant only in his armpit and it is applicable to women also. All Deodorants contain Aluminum salts which remove the bad smell. Aluminum is a very dangerous metal. It gives problem to iron absorption and it is suspected that aluminum play a role in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Very little deodorant is enough. Whole body deodorant is dangerous, never use it.

My advices to men include:

• Avoid exposure to excess sun. If you have a white skin you have to protect with SPF 15 cream or lotion. If you are brown it is not necessary. Even then avoid excess sun.
• The food you take must be healthy. You must eat lot of vegetables, fruits, pulses, beans, nuts and whole grains products. Avoid processed food and junk food. Make up can do only little for your skin but the real beauty of the skin comes from inside with you healthy life style.
• Physical activity is very important to your skin shape. Quick walking, skipping, gym, swimming, bicycling, or any team sport like soccer, basket ball or volley ball is good. You must do it every day.
• Think positively, avoid stress and treat problems as challenges.

The dose makes the poison. Too much of anything is never good. It is applicable to food, sweets, alcohol, tobacco, stress, fatigue and even for make up.

I have talked about the body smell of men with women in all continents. For them men’s hygiene is very important. But all like their partners’ body odour. So men decide what you want.

Sesame oil pulling makes and keeps your mouth and breath fresh which is highly appreciated by many women.