How to Keep the Flu Away During Change of Season

Dr. Kamal Asnani, is a General Physician and Medical Writer. In this article, he is giving out some expert tips on how you can prevent yourself from flu this season.

Flu is More Common during Seasonal Change

The influenza virus is a common, highly seasonal and significant respiratory pathogen. Influenza is spread from person to person through respiratory droplets like most other respiratory viruses. Significant features of fever and cough are the hallmark of influenza infection and these are present in annual epidemics. Other symptoms include sore throat, headache, malaise, nasal congestion, and myalgia. Consequences of influenza are varied and most individuals have mild to moderate symptoms.  Most patients continue with their daily activities or return to work within 3-4 days.

Cure of influenza

Rest, fluids, and antipyretics are recommended as supportive measures for influenza. Antipyretics reduce fever and myalgia and also make the patient feel subjectively better. Antiviral medications can be effective in treating influenza infection, but their effectiveness is highly time dependent and complicated by resistant strain development.

Prevention of Influenza

The key to managing influenza is prevention and this can be done in 4 ways, which are:

1.    Essential Precautions:

a.    Hand washing and the use of naso-oral facemasks can limit its spread. Hands should be washed at regular intervals with soap and water or with alcohol-based sanitizers.

b.    A minimum distance of 3-6 feet should be kept from people who are suffering from illness.

c.     Drinking glasses, food, towels, or other personal care items should not be shared with others.

d.    As virus for flu multiplies in dry air, a humidifier can be used to increase humidity and thus avoid spread of virus.

e.     Heathcare workers should cultivate a habit to wash hands frequently.

2.    Vaccination

Immunization is highly effective in preventing flu. Vaccination is also very important. Benefits of the vaccination are reduction in influenza related symptoms and relief from its consequences. Pneumonia, hospital admission, fever, influenza related deaths in nursing home patients are few reliefs one can attain by getting vaccinated.

3.    General health practices

Let us have a sneak peek at general health practices that can help to fend off the flu virus:

a.    According to recent studies, drinking plenty of water is said to activate a particular immune against the viruses; so stay hydrated.

b.    Consuming food or taking supplements rich in "probiotics" may fend off flu viruses.

c.     The most effective way is to keep one's immune system strong and equipped to fight influenza. Immune system can be strengthened by exercising and consuming food rich in protein and complex carbohydrates.

4.    Chemoprophylaxis

Chemoprophylaxis with antiviral medications can prevent influenza. Antivirals (amantadine and rimantadine) are active against influenza A; however, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised not to use them, as they are not active against Influenza B viruses. Oseltamivir and zanamivir are generally effective against influenza A and B and may be more effective than amantadine and rimantadine in preventing influenza.

Now that you are well versed with effective means to keep influenza at bay, get yourself better equipped this season.

Source: How to Keep the Flu Away During Change of Season

TOP 10: Simple tasks to make you feel GREAT in 30 mins

Little things like paying that outstanding bill, getting that paperwork done, organising your desk can make a great difference to the way you feel. Here are 10 things you can do right away and feel great about yourself!

How often do you start your Mondays or any other day for that matter feeling really terrible looking at a long week looming ahead of you? Worse, how often do you go to bed feeling the same way? Surely not everyone can have a good day every day.

Think of it, very often it isn't the big tasks that bother you -- you know you'll get to the end of them eventually -- it's the smaller, insignificant ones that really keep nudging you.

This is perhaps just the beginning of your problems. Fear not, here are 10 really simple things you can do to feel better about yourself.

Pay your bills

How often do you keep those monthly bills for the end of the month or the day before the last date? The beginning of the month is perhaps the best time to write off all those cheques, pay off the telephone company, the electricity bills, your mobile and internet charges and your staff. Besides having struck off half your month's to-do list, you'd probably have a far better idea of just how much you have to spend for the rest of the month.

Organise your desk

A cluttered desk can (in fact does) affect the way your co-workers look at you. According to a recent survey conducted by the staffing firm Adecco, 57 per cent people admit that they judge their colleagues by their desks.

Apart from this however, a messy desk can demoralise you in subtle ways. Imagine walking up to a computer screen littered with Post-Its or a pile of papers and files greeting you on an otherwise bright day!

Believe us the messiest desks take no more than 30 minutes to clean. All you need to do is set that time aside and get the task done. Walk up to your desk the next morning and you'll know exactly what we mean.

Sort out that long-pending task

The funny thing about the tasks we procrastinate over are those that take very little time. Like filling out a form, writing out an email, couriering a letter or photocopying those documents you've been carrying with you for weeks on end! Think of it? How long does it take to do any of -- or even all -- these tasks? 15 minutes? 20? 30 at best? What's stopping you? Go right ahead and you'll have yet another check mark on your list.

Do something noble

Few things make you feel better than doing something noble. Fix up an appointment to donate blood in your nearest blood bank. If you're not sure, log on to websites such as indianblooddonors.com and register yourself. The next time someone's in need of blood, you'll get a call. Commit to donating an organ; chances are you won't need it when you're dead anyway. If you have a little money to spare, write a check to an NGO of your choice.

Read up on something new

How often have you wondered how to can take really good pictures with your digital camera? Or learn to be a better writer or swim faster or make that perfect omelette? Select a topic you really, really want to know about and spend 20 minutes reading about it. Who knows where your search will lead you to!

Make that phone call

In our fast-paced life, we often tend to forget the ones we really love. Parents, grandparents, siblings are hardly ever called up, let alone visited. Call up your loved ones; tell them how much they mean to you and hear them out. Believe us nothing will thrill your parents more than hearing your voice. Unless of course you owe them money, in which case you could well pay them and check that off the list too!

Take a walk

A heavy meal can put you back by at least a few days on your gym schedule. Take a walk after your meal. Or if it's too sunny, make sure you step out and take a stroll in the park nearby and unwind rather than rushing right back home.

Hit the gym

Since we're at it, we may as well tell you that you don't need more than 20 minutes to get a really intensive workout. Hit your office gym, get a really good stretch, run on the treadmill, do pilates or yoga or anything you fancy and you'll be feeling great in no time at all. Take it easy though and ensure you're doing it under supervision, lest you end up with a gym injury.

Make a plan... for Wednesday

Everyone has a weekend plan. Schedule yours for Wednesday. It could be a movie or a night out with friends or simply a quiet dinner date. Why Wednesday? When you have something to look forward to in the middle of the week, your Monday (and your week) doesn't feel that long and tiring.

Leave your comfort zone

A ship is safe in harbour, but that's not what ships are for' goes the famous saying. Get out of your comfort zone, do something you always wanted to do but never could never get yourself around to doing. Volunteer for that assignment you were hesitating to take up at work. Or walk up to that cutie who's been making your heart to pit-a-pat and ask them out for coffee. Who knows where this little task will lead to? Leave the harbour and sail into the sea.

Source: TOP 10: Simple tasks to make you feel GREAT in 30 mins

10 things you should give up to be happy

Just as there things you do to attain happiness, there are as many you must give up. Here's a quick list of ten such things:

It is perhaps easier to start doing something new than it is to give something up and yet unlearning something old is very much a part of learning something new. Not very long ago we told you about the simple tasks that can make you feel great in 30 minutes.

Over the next few pages, we've listed bunch of things you should consider giving up (not necessarily over the next 30 minutes) so you feel happy!

1. Give up smoking

Apart from all the health hazards that you probably know of already, smoking according to a 2010 study makes you dumb. You read it right -- people who smoke tend to have lower IQs than their non-smoking peers, the research says.

Sure, all of us thought smoking was the thing to do back in college and university but let's face it smokers are so not happening any more. They stink all the time and probably can't climb more than a couple of flights of stairs.

Smoking is passe and it probably stopped being cool in the last century. So really there aren't a lot of reasons why you should be smoking to begin with!

2. Give up binge drinking every single weekend

Many of us have had that one time when we've passed out in the hallway or have had so much to drink that we have no recollection of how we landed home the previous night. And sure, it almost always makes for a great story -- heck it even makes for a damn good movie -- but again what would you think of your roomie returning home every other weekend, throwing up and passing out every single time?

Sure, binge drinking may seem like fun occasionally but think of it, do you really need us to tell you how much it can set you back financially, mentally and physically? Besides, there most certainly are far better places to hang out on weekends than dingy bars and loud pubs, aren't there?

3. Give up waking up late on holidays all-the-time

Here's the thing about weekends and holidays -- they're all yours to spend. You don't necessarily have to report in to work or check emails, which means you can pretty much do what your little heart desires -- head out for a leisurely brunch with your partner or watch the movie you've been meaning to catch up or go for a long swim that you've wanted to go for the whole week but couldn't.

If you're one of those lucky ones who have a two-day weekend, you could head out to the nearest beach or hill station for a holiday.

So why on earth would you want to s-l-e-e-p for f-i-f-t-e-e-n hours each day on a weekend when you could do all of this (and perhaps more) before you get back into the grind of the next week?

Weekends are your time; make the most of it -- not by sleeping but rather by doing something exciting, something you could look back on and say 'Hey, that was a good weekend'. So do something exciting this weekend if only to update your Facebook profile photo. No really!

4. Give up procrastinating

Of all the things in the list so far and those to follow, this one is arguably the most difficult to give up. Why, after all, would you want to do something you can put away for tomorrow right away?

Writing out a cheque, paying a bill, doing the laundry, changing the linen -- the list of little things we procrastinate over is endless. And then comes the day when you have absolutely no option but to do a-l-l of those in one single day -- invariably on your one precious day off.

The thing about procrastinating is that it's the little things that usually lead to larger ones -- lost opportunities at work, ill health or the prospect of pushing the limits of your partner's patience by avoiding the tasks set out for you at home.

Like everything else in this list you don't need to be told why you should quit procrastinating, except that for your own good you quite simply must.

5. Give up criticising

It's the one thing everyone loves to do probably because a) it's easy and b) few things make you feel as good as pointing out someone's mistakes (even if s/he's your best friend). But when you really think of it, where does criticising get you anyway.

If at all, it breeds negativity one that is most likely to affect you than the person you're speaking against.

No one loves someone who criticises constantly and finds flaws with everything anyone does.

Stop being bothered by the flaws of others; if they're those who matter to you bring it up once or twice and let it go after that. Learn to live with the flaws of people around you; chances are they're doing the same with you.

6. Give up making excuses

Much like criticising, making excuses is easy, which makes it the most tempting thing to do, right? And yet in very many ways it saddles you with baggage you could well do without -- your career heads nowhere, that advanced degree remains unfinished and the weight you always wanted to lose stays on (or worse, adds up).

So really, throw away those excuses you've been making up and buckle up because excuses get you nowhere. Pull up your socks, take a call on your career, complete the degree you've been dying to get and hit the gym to lose those pounds.

Think of it, how difficult can it be after all?

7. Give up trying to be someone you are not

The question you really must ask yourself first is what is it that makes you unique? It is easy to lose track of who we and what we want to be in the media-driven world that we live in.

Get a grip, stop comparing yourself with others and living up to what they believe is right. Come to terms with the fact that on some days you're the pigeon and on other days, the statue. Be honest to yourself and don't let the ghosts of your past determine who you are or will be in the future.

8. Give up the need for control

Learn to let things go and let people be. You cannot control the actions of people around you -- be it your children, your spouse or your other loved ones. They will act according to their beliefs and reasons because that is what human beings are supposed to do. Stop being a control freak and learn to let people be. Chances are you'll find your peace faster and more easily.

9. Give up brooding over failures

This is an extension of the last one. Everyone fails at some point (believe us, it's true) and it's only fair that you stop being tough on yourself and kick yourself for a mistake you made. Sure, it is essential to ponder over the mistakes one makes so as to learn from them but brooding over your failures can get you nowhere. So stop. And move on.

10. Give up resisting change

Whether we like it or not change is the only constant in our lives. So stop trying to fight it and rather choose to embrace it willingly. Remember people change, situations change and so must you. And even as you must not change so much that you forget who you are, remember that more you try to resist change the more bitter you will find yourself becoming.

Source: 10 things you should give up to be happy

Alcohol and cancer

Alcohol and cancer

·         There is no doubt that alcohol can cause seven types of cancer.

·         The more you cut down on alcohol, the more you reduce your risk of cancer.

·         There is limited risk if you only drink a little - such as one small drink a day for women or two for men.

·         You don’t need to be drunk to increase your risk.

·         Drinking and smoking together are even worse for you.

The consequences of drinking too much alcohol go well beyond the evening’s embarrassing antics or the morning’s hangover. Scientific studies have confirmed that alcohol can also cause cancer.

Obviously, not everyone who drinks will develop cancer. But on the whole, scientists have found that cancer is more common in people who drink alcohol than people who don’t.

Which cancers are affected?

Drinking alcohol can increase your risk of:

·         Mouth cancer

·         Pharyngeal cancer (upper throat)

·         Oesophageal cancer (food pipe)

·         Laryngeal cancer (voice box)

·         Breast cancer

·         Bowel cancer

·         Liver cancer

Every year, alcohol causes around 4% of cancer cases in the UK, about 12,500 cases.

Along with smoking, alcohol causes the majority of mouth and food pipe cancers. In the last decade, mouth cancer has become much more common and this may be because of higher levels of drinking.

Can light drinking increase the risk of cancer?

Alcohol can increase the risk of cancer at levels far too low to make an average person drunk. It’s not just people who have ‘drinking problems’ who have higher risks.

As little as 3 units a day can increase the risk of mouth, throat, food pipe, breast and bowel cancers. That’s the amount in one pint of premium lager or a large glass of wine!

Alcohol has a weaker effect on the risk of breast cancer than on other cancers, but it starts having an effect at a lower level.

What about heavy drinking?

The more alcohol you drink, the higher your risk of developing cancer. Heavy drinking can cause cirrhosis of the liver, which can in turn cause liver cancer.

Heavy drinking can also cause heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, pancreatitis and, of course, injuries.

Are there safe limits?

There is limited risk if you only drink a little, such as:

·         one small drink a day for women (about two units a day).

·         two small drinks a day for men (about three to four units a day).

But remember that:

·         your risk increases the more you drink, and

·         some drinks may contain more alcohol than you imagine.

Which is worse: binge drinking or spreading my drinking across the week?

Research tells us that the total amount of alcohol you drink over time has a much bigger effect on cancer risk than when or how it is drunk.

People are more likely to develop cancer if they drink a lot of alcohol, no matter whether they save it up and drink it in one go, or drink it steadily over a week.

Does drinking matter if you smoke?

People who smoke and drink multiply the damage they receive, because tobacco and alcohol work together to damage the cells of the body. Alcohol makes it easier for the mouth and throat to absorb the cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco.

Studies have found that, on average, people who smoke and drink are up to 50 times more likely to get some types of cancer than people who neither smoke nor drink.

Do all types of alcohol increase the risk of cancer?

All types of alcohol increase the risk of cancer, even red wine. It is the alcohol itself that does the damage, regardless of whether it is in the form of beer, wine or spirits.

Elsewhere in this section, you can read about whether alcohol has any benefits for your health.

Why are women recommended to drink less than men?

The slightly different recommendations for men and women are based on biological differences between the two sexes.

·         A woman’s liver produces less of an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase that breaks down alcohol. So alcohol stays in a woman’s body for longer.

·         There is some evidence that drinking just one unit of alcohol a day can significantly increase the risk of breast cancer. Smaller bodies can absorb less alcohol than large ones and on average, women are smaller than men.

·         Because of their curvy shape, women also tend to have more body fat and less body water than men. This means that any alcohol a woman drinks becomes more concentrated in her body that it would be in a man of the same size.

How does alcohol cause cancer?

There are many possible explanations for how alcohol causes cancer. It is likely that it causes different types of cancer in different ways.

Here are the most likely theories:

1.    Acetaldehyde, the hangover chemical

In your body, alcohol is converted into a toxic chemical called acetaldehyde. This is one the main reasons why we get hangovers.

But acetaldehyde does more than give you a headache in the morning. It can cause cancer by damaging DNA and stopping our cells from repairing this damage.

Acetaldehyde also causes liver cells to grow faster than normal. These regenerating cells are more likely to pick up changes in their genes that could lead to cancer.

2.    Oestrogen and hormones

Alcohol can increase the levels of some hormones, such as oestrogen, testosterone and insulin. Unusually high levels of oestrogen increase the risk of breast cancer.

3.    Liver cirrhosis

Drinking lots of alcohol can damage the cells of the liver, causing a disease called cirrhosis. Cirrhosis makes you more vulnerable to liver cancer.

4.    Other chemicals

Alcohol makes it easier for the tissues of the mouth and throat to absorb the cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco. This is one reason why people who smoke and drink multiply the damage they receive and have especially high risks of cancer.

5.    Folate

Folate is an important vitamin that helps our cells produce new DNA correctly. People who drink alcohol tend to have lower levels of folate in their blood and some studies have found that cancer is more common in people with low folate levels.

Can alcohol be good for you?

You may have heard that some types of alcohol can be good for you. Many people believe that drinking can be good for the heart, or that red wine can protect against cancer. Is this true?

Alcohol and heart disease

Drinking small amounts of alcohol can protect against heart disease but this does not apply to younger people.

Drinking alcohol specifically to improve your health is unlikely to work. And heavy drinking can actually increase the risk of heart disease. Around the world, alcohol causes twice as many deaths from heart disease as it prevents.

Red wine

Red wine contains high levels of a chemical called resveratrol, which has some anti-cancer effects in laboratory cells. But this is a far cry from saying that drinking red wine can protect people from cancer. For a start, red wine contains many other chemicals, which may not be so beneficial, including alcohol itself.

Based on studies done so far, there is no strong evidence that red wine could protect against cancer. One small but widely reported study claimed that men could halve their risk of prostate cancer by drinking 1-2 units a day. But much larger, stronger studies have contradicted this conclusion.

Recently, a newspaper report claimed that red wine could prevent breast cancer, based on a study which found that resveratrol blocks some types of DNA damage in breast cancer cells. But we can't conclude from this that red wine protects against cancer, as we discuss in our blog. 

Wine in general

It is clear that all types of alcohol can increase the risk of cancer, including both red and white wines.

The bottom line is that it is a bad idea to drink wine to prevent cancer. There is no strong evidence that this would work. And moderate drinking can easily turn into heavy drinking, which can definitely cause cancer.

Reasons for cutting down

Eight million adults in the UK currently drink at risky levels and British teenagers are some of the heaviest young drinkers in Europe.

The more you cut down on alcohol, the more you reduce your risk of cancer. But there are many other benefits of drinking less.

Maria cut down on alcohol, and gained new-found confidence. She shared her story with us, telling us what made her cut down, and how she feels now.

 

Feeling inspired? Read on for more reasons to cut down.

Reduce your risk of several diseases

Aside from embarrassing injuries, alcohol can also cause heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, and pancreatitis. Cutting down can help you reduce your risk of these conditions.

Lose weight

Alcoholic drinks are very high in calories. But these are ‘empty calories’ with virtually no useful nutrients. Alcohol also increases your appetite, so you might eat more heavily when you drink.

If you want to lose weight, you’ll need to consider reducing the amount you drink.

Feel better, sleep better

Alcohol is a depressant. Sometimes this effect can relax you, but at other times, it can lead to feelings of unhappiness and depression.

Alcohol can also interfere with your natural sleep patterns, so by cutting down, you may find that you sleep better.

Save money

If you’re a regular drinker, you might find that you save a lot of money by cutting down.

Source: 

1.    Alcohol and cancer

2.    How does alcohol cause cancer?

3.    Can alcohol be good for you? 

4.    Reasons for cutting down 

Smoking and cancer

Smoking and cancer

Thanks to years of research, the links between smoking and cancer are now very clear. Smoking is by far the most important preventable cause of cancer in the world. Smoking accounts for one in four UK cancer deaths, and nearly a fifth of all cancer cases.

In the UK, smoking kills five times more people than road accidents, overdoses, murder, suicide and HIV all put together.

Which cancers are caused by smoking?

Smoking causes more than four in five cases of lung cancer. Lung cancer has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers, and is the most common cause of cancer death in the UK. The good news is that most of these deaths are preventable, by giving up smoking in time.

Smoking also increases the risk of over a dozen other cancers including cancers of the mouth, larynx (voice box), pharynx (upper throat), nose and sinuses, oesophagus (food pipe), liver, pancreas, stomach, kidney, bladder, cervix and bowel, as well as one type of ovarian cancer and some types of leukaemia. There is also some evidence that smoking could increase the risk of breast cancer.

Not all smokers get cancer. Why?

You may know someone who smoked all their lives but lived to a ripe old age. Or you may know someone who never smoked but got cancer anyway. Does this mean that smoking doesn’t really cause cancer?

Not at all. Years of research have proven that smoking causes cancer. But this doesn’t mean that all smokers will definitely get cancer or that all non-smokers won’t. It means that smoking greatly increases the risk of this disease. Smokers are, on average, much more likely to get cancer than non-smokers.

In a similar way, we can say that eating sugary foods is a cause of tooth decay. This doesn’t mean that all children who eat sugary foods will end up with decayed teeth. It means that, on average, children who eat lots of sugary foods are more likely to develop tooth decay than those who avoid such foods.

The fact is that half of all smokers eventually die from cancer, or other smoking-related illnesses. And a quarter of smokers die in middle age, between 35 and 69.

Our How do we know? page has more information on the evidence linking smoking to cancer.

How does smoking cause cancer?

Tobacco smoke contains more than 70 different cancer-causing substances. When you inhale smoke, these chemicals enter your lungs and spread around the rest of your body.

Scientists have shown that these chemicals can damage DNA and change important genes. This causes cancer by making your cells grow and multiply out of control.

Giving up makes a difference

Thanks to research, health campaigns and new policies, the number of smokers in the UK has halved in the last 50 years. Because of this, the number of people who die from lung cancer has also halved. Clearly, giving up smoking saves lives.

But there is still a long way to go. Lung cancer is still the second most common type of cancer in the UK and kills over 35,000 people every year. And there are signs that the number of people who are quitting is starting to match the number who are taking it up.

If you are a smoker, giving up smoking is the best present you can give yourself. There are many techniques you can try to help you join the increasing numbers of smokers who are quitting for good. You can find more advice on quitting in this section.

Finding it hard to quit? Get involved with Stoptober. Research shows that if you can stop smoking for 28 days, you are five times more likely to stay smokefree, and Stoptober leads smokers through a detailed step-by-step programme to help them achieve this goal.

Smoking and cancer: What's in a cigarette?

A cigarette may look harmless enough - tobacco leaves covered in classic white paper. But when it burns, it releases a dangerous cocktail of about 4,000 chemicals including:

·         more than 70 cancer-causing chemicals

·         hundreds of other poisons.

·         nicotine, a highly addictive drug, and many additives designed to make cigarettes taste nicer and keep smokers hooked.

This page has more information on the various poisons in cigarette smoke. You can also read about where these come from and how concentrated they actually are.

Cancer-causing chemicals in tobacco smoke

·         Tar - a mixture of dangerous chemicals

·         Arsenic - used in wood preservatives

·         Benzene - an industrial solvent, refined from crude oil

·         Cadmium - used in batteries

·         Formaldehyde - used in mortuaries and paint manufacturing

·         Polonium-210 - a highly radioactive element

·         Chromium - used to manufacture dye, paints and alloys

·         1,3-Butadiene - used in rubber manufacturing

·         Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - a group of dangerous DNA-damaging chemicals

·         Nitrosamines - another group of DNA-damaging chemicals

·         Acrolein - formerly used as a chemical weapon

Other chemicals

·         Other poisons in cigarette smoke

·         Hydrogen cyanide - used as an industrial pesticide

·         Carbon monoxide - found in car exhausts and used in chemicals manufacturing

·         Nitrogen oxides - a major component of smog

·         Ammonia - used to make fertilisers and explosives

·         More poisons

Tar

Tar is a term that describes a collection of solid particles that smokers inhale when they light a cigarette. It is a mixture of lots of chemicals, many of which can cause cancer. When it settles, tar forms a sticky, brown residue that can stain smokers’ teeth, fingers and lungs.

Because tar is listed on packs, it is easy to believe that it is the only harmful part of cigarettes. But some of the most dangerous chemicals in tobacco smoke are present as gases, and do not count as part of tar. This means that cigarettes with less tar still contain all the other toxic chemicals.

Arsenic

Arsenic is one of the most dangerous chemicals in cigarettes. It can cause cancer as well as damaging the heart and its blood vessels.

Small amounts of arsenic can accumulate in smokers’ bodies and build up to higher concentrations over months and years. As well as any direct effects, it can worsen the effect of other chemicals by interfering with our ability to repair our DNA.

Fish and seafood can be major sources of arsenic, but in a form that is less toxic and more readily removed from the body. In contrast, tobacco smoke contains arsenic in a more dangerous form.

Benzene

Benzene is a solvent used to manufacture other chemicals, including petrol. It is well-established that benzene can cause cancer, particularly leukaemia. It could account for between a tenth and a half of the deaths from leukaemia caused by smoking.

Tobacco smoke contains large amounts of benzene and accounts for a big proportion of our exposure to this poison. The average smoker inhales about ten times more benzene than the average non-smoker.

And some studies have estimated that the amount of benzene that a person inhales through second-hand smoke over their lifetime could increase their risk of cancer.

Cadmium

Cadmium is a metal used mostly to make batteries. The majority of cadmium in our bodies comes from exposure to tobacco smoke. Smokers can have twice as much cadmium in their blood as non-smokers.

Studies have found that the amounts of cadmium present in tobacco smoke are capable of affecting our health. It is a known cause of cancer, and can also damage the kidneys and the linings of the arteries.

Our bodies have proteins that mop up harmful chemicals like cadmium, but the amounts in smoke can overload these proteins. Cadmium can also prevent our cells from repairing damaged DNA. Because of this, it can make the effects of other chemicals even worse.

Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde is a smelly chemical used to kill bacteria, preserve dead bodies and manufacture other chemicals. It is one of the substances in tobacco smoke most likely to cause diseases in our lungs and airways.

Formaldehyde is also a known cause of cancer. It is believed that even the small amounts in second-hand smoke could increase our lifetime risk of cancer.

Tobacco smoke is one of our major sources of formaldehyde exposure. Places where people smoke can have three times the normal levels of this poison.

Polonium-210

Polonium is a rare, radioactive element and polonium-210 is its most common form. Polonium strongly emits a very damaging type of radiation called alpha-radiation that can usually be blocked by thin layers of skin.

But tobacco smoke contains traces of polonium, which become deposited inside their airways and deliver radiation directly to surrounding cells.

The lungs of smokers can be exposed to four times more polonium than those of non-smokers and specific parts may get a hundred times more radiation. One study estimated that someone smoking one and half packs a day receives the equivalent amount of radiation as someone having 300 chest X-rays a year.

Chromium

Chromium is a metal used to make metallic alloys, dyes and paints and comes in different types. Chromium III or ‘trivalent chromium’ is most commonly used. It is available as dietary supplements and is harmless.

On the other hand, chromium VI or ‘hexavalent chromium’ is very toxic, is found in tobacco smoke, and is known to cause lung cancer. It allows other cancer-causing chemicals (such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) to stick more strongly to DNA and damage it.

1,3-Butadiene

1,3-butadiene or BDE is an industrial chemical used in rubber manufacture. Some scientists believe that of all the chemicals in tobacco smoke, BDE may present the greatest overall cancer risk. It may not be as good at causing cancer as some of the other chemicals listed here, but it is found in large amounts in tobacco smoke.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs are a group of powerful cancer-causing chemicals that can damage DNA and set cells down the road to becoming tumours.

One of these chemicals - benzo(a)pyrene or BAP - is one of the most widely studied of all tobacco poisons. BAP directly damages p53, a gene that normally protects our bodies against cancer.

Nitrosamines

Nitrosamines are a group of chemicals that can directly damage DNA, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

They are found in small amounts in food. But tobacco products, including those that are chewed rather than smoked, are by far our largest source of exposure to these chemicals. Even though they are found in relatively small amounts in cigarettes, they are very strong cancer-causing chemicals.

Acrolein

Acrolein is a gas with an intensely irritating smell and is one of the most abundant chemicals in cigarette smoke. It belongs to the same group of chemicals as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, both of which can cause cancer.

Until now, it wasn’t clear if acrolein causes cancer as well, but recent experiments suggest that it can. We now know that acrolein can cause DNA damage that is similar to the damage seen in lung cancer patients. Since smoke contains up to 1,000 times more acrolein than other DNA-damaging chemicals, it could be a major cause of lung cancer.

Acrolein also stops our cells from repairing DNA damage, like arsenic and cadmium. And like hydrogen cyanide, it kills the hairs that normally clean our lungs of other toxins.

Other chemicals

Some of the other cancer-causing ingredients of tobacco smoke include:

·         metals, such as nickel, lead, cobalt and beryllium. While you may be exposed to some of these metals through domestic items or food, inhaling them in tobacco smoke is worse, because they are easily absorbed by the lungs.

·         acetaldehyde, which is also formed in your tissues when you drink alcohol - it is responsible for many nasty hangover symptoms

·         hydrazine, a very toxic chemical used mainly in rocket fuel

Hydrogen cyanide

Hydrogen cyanide is a poisonous gas. Of all the chemicals in tobacco smoke, it does the most damage to the heart and blood vessels.

Hydrogen cyanide does not cause cancer, but it increases the risk of other chemicals causing cancer by damaging cilia. These are tiny hairs lining the airways that help to clear toxins away. By killing cilia, hydrogen cyanide causes other dangerous chemicals to be stuck in the lungs and airways.

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide is a colourless gas with no smell. It is formed when we burn carbon-based fuels, such as gas in cookers or petrol in car engines. It can make up as much as 3-5% of tobacco smoke.

Carbon monoxide sticks to our red blood cells in place of oxygen. This lowers our blood’s ability to transport oxygen and deprives our tissues and organs of this vital gas.

Like hydrogen cyanide, it kills cilia and reduces our lungs’ ability to clear away toxins. This means that while carbon monoxide does not cause cancer directly, it makes it easier for other chemicals to do so.

Nitrogen oxide

Nitrogen oxide is a gas found in car exhaust and tobacco smoke.

Our bodies use it in very small amounts to carry signals between cells. But in large amounts, it is a major air pollutant. It directly damages lung tissue and causes inflammation in the lungs.

Normally, our bodies produce small amounts of nitrogen oxide, which causes our airways to expand. The large amount of nitrogen oxide in tobacco smoke changes things in two ways:

·         When smokers are smoking, it expands their airways even further, making it easier for their lungs to absorb nicotine and other chemicals.

·         When they are not smoking, it shuts off their internal nitrogen oxide production line, causing their airways to constrict. This is one reason why regular smokers often have difficulty breathing.

Ammonia

Ammonia is a gas with a strong, irritating smell, and is used in some toilet cleaners. Some studies have found that ammonia enhances the addictive power of nicotine. It changes nicotine into a gas that is more readily absorbed into the lungs, airways and bloodstream.

Like carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide, ammonia also kills cilia.

More poisons

Tobacco smoke also contains many other poisons that produce harmful effects. These can be carried throughout the body via our blood vessels.

As well as hydrogen cyanide and ammonia, gases like sulphur dioxide also kill cilia (protective hairs) in our lungs. This stops them from being able to clear away other harmful chemicals.

Chemicals like hydrogen sulphide and pyridine irritate our airways.

Toluene can damage brain cells and interfere with their development.

Source:

1.    Smoking and cancer

2.    Smoking and cancer: What's in a cigarette?