Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 He found smokers averaged 34 sick days annually, compared to 25 sick days a year for former smokers and 20 for nonsmokers. In his analysis, Lundborg controlled for health problems among all participants and found health problems were not the only cause of smokers' absenteeism. "I found that health problems accounted for about two days and something," said Lundborg. "The remaining eight days are probably explained by something other than health. There are a number of possible explanations for the difference," he said, "There might be personal characteristics that we can't observe. |
| Compared with never-smokers, daily smokers at entry into the U.S. Navy had subsequent career outcomes consistently indicating poorer job performance (e.g., early attrition prior to serving a full-term enlistment, more likely to have a less-than-honorable discharge, more demotions and desertions, lower achieved pay-grade and less likely to re-enlist)," they wrote.
"Tobacco use is of particular concern to the U.S. Department of Defense because, historically, the military has had higher and heavier rates of tobacco use than civilians," wrote the researchers. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 If these smokers are going to destroy their health, they should really be outside the system of public payment for their health treatment. If they choose to take a road of slow suicide, and they're going to destroy their health and create outlandish healthcare costs, then they should be warned up front that they're going to be responsible for their own health care costs. Because right now, smokers are essentially saying to society: "You should pay my health care costs. Even though I'm going to sit around and smoke cigarettes and destroy my health, you should pay for me. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| In his analysis, Lundborg controlled for health problems among all participants and found health problems were not the only cause of smokers' absenteeism. "I found that health problems accounted for about two days and something," said Lundborg. "The remaining eight days are probably explained by something other than health. There are a number of possible explanations for the difference," he said, "There might be personal characteristics that we can't observe."
Likewise, Conway and fellow researchers in a study of women in the U.S. |
| American adults were smokers, compared to 20.9% in 2004. This decline began after the Surgeon General's first report on the dangers of smoking in 1964. This warning could have been made earlier -- in 1957 and again in 1959 then-Surgeon General Leroy Burney was the first federal officer to publicly state smoking was a cause of lung cancer.
As discussed in various NewsTarget stories, when the Surgeon General's report finally surfaced in 1964, the American Medical Association did not endorse the report. Just a month prior, the AMA had accepted $15 million in funding from the tobacco industry. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| Not only are smokers destroying their own health and demanding that you pay for it, they're also poisoning the air we all breathe. They are indirectly compromising the health of you and your family as they sit outside buildings and erect a smoke barrier through which you have to pass just to go through the front door. So now you have increased health care costs due to the destructive habits of smokers who seem to want to light up everywhere: parks, beaches, sidewalks... you name it. Why are we subsidizing that kind of activity? Why is smoking in public places still legal at all? |
Gabriel Cousens
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 In heavy smokers the insulin requirement was 30 percent higher. Researchers have found that chronic smokers were likely to be more insulin resistant, hyperinsulinemic, and dyslipidemic compared to matched groups of nonsmokers. It is believed that catecholamines, a type of hormone, are produced in greater quantity in smokers and act as an antagonist to insulin action.73 A study of forty patients with Type-2 diabetes found insulin resistance was markedly aggravated among those who smoked.74
A contributing factor to insulin resistance is nicotine-containing products. |
Craig Pepin-Donat
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 A study found that when chronic smokers were deprived of cigarettes for 24 hours, they had increased anger, hostility, aggression and loss of social cooperation. People suffering from withdrawal take longer to regain emotional balance and control following stressful events. During periods of abstinence from smoking, smokers have shown impairment across a wide range of psychomotor and cognitive functions, such as language comprehension.11
That smoking is addictive and deadly is beyond debate. The real issue is how best to assist smokers to break this lethal habit. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| I know what it's like to be around smokers and to lose loved ones to nicotine, and it's not that I would have wanted to punish those family members by denying them healthcare, it's that I would have wanted to talk to them 40 years ago, before they ever started smoking and said, hey, you have a choice. If you want to use this product, you can, but there will be a price to pay, and the price will be long-term cancer, a lot of pain and suffering, an early death, and you will no longer be covered by health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid. You won't be paid to be a smoker. |
| It's almost as if we are rewarding them for being smokers, even while they are draining economic productivity out of society.
This approach would keep smoking legal, would allow people to exercise free will, but at the same time would make them responsible for their health choices. And of course, someone who smokes could stop smoking, and within say, one or two years could once again be covered by health insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid. |
Dr. Timothy Scott
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 We were directly below the smokers, some of their feet being little more than inches from our heads. Perhaps because we were not on the same level, the smokers did not seem to even notice us. They consistently turned their heads our direction and exhaled their smoke. We would have breathed in less smoke if we had been seated next to them in the restaurant's smoking section. For those of you who have had similar experiences, let me comfort you with this fact. Many literature reviews of the research have found that passive smoking (breathing smokers' exhaled smoke) poses no risks to non-smokers. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| So now you have increased health care costs due to the destructive habits of smokers who seem to want to light up everywhere: parks, beaches, sidewalks... you name it. Why are we subsidizing that kind of activity? Why is smoking in public places still legal at all?
Other people might say that, Mike, you're suggesting this because you've never actually lost anybody to lung cancer, you're not close enough to this issue to understand the impact of it. That's not true either -- I've lost two close family members to lung cancer. |
Herbert Ross, DC with Keri Brenner, L.Ac.
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 Because nicotine acts as a stimulant, many smokers have insomnia and other sleep problems.12 In a poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, 46% of smokers reported experiencing insomnia a few nights a week as compared to 35% of non-smokers.13 Nicotine is rapidly absorbed by the mucous membranes in the mouth and quickly reaches the brain, where it stimulates the release of adrenaline and norepinephrine, hormones that stimulate the body, increase heart rate, and elevate blood pressure.14
Poor Diet
If you eat the typical American diet, it could be making your sleeping problems worse. |
Gabriel Cousens
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| In fact, smokers are five times more likely than nonsmokers to have gum disease. For smokers with diabetes, the risk is even greater. If you are a smoker with diabetes, age 45 or older, you are twenty times more likely than a person without these risk factors to get severe gum disease.82
Diabetes as an Accelerated Aging Reality
Often diabetes doesn't get diagnosed until its complications begin to arise. |
| Researchers have found that chronic smokers were likely to be more insulin resistant, hyperinsulinemic, and dyslipidemic compared to matched groups of nonsmokers. It is believed that catecholamines, a type of hormone, are produced in greater quantity in smokers and act as an antagonist to insulin action.73 A study of forty patients with Type-2 diabetes found insulin resistance was markedly aggravated among those who smoked.74
A contributing factor to insulin resistance is nicotine-containing products. |
by Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D.
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| In one human study, sixteen chronic smokers were given 1.5 grams of turmeric daily, while six nonsmokers served as a control group. At the end of the thirty-day trial, the smokers who had received turmeric had a significant drop in the level of cancer-causing compounds as measured in their urine. Their levels were almost the same as those of the nonsmokers. We suggest that people who smoke, or who are exposed to secondhand smoke, eat foods seasoned with curcumin. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 Grapefruit juice may help reduce the risk of cancer in smokers. In a controlled study involving forty-nine smokers, researchers at the University of Hawaii found that drinking three 6-ounce glasses of grapefruit juice a day reduced the activity of a liver enzyme called CYP1A2 that is thought to activate cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke. It's reasonable to think that might be helpful for nonsmokers as well, since reducing the activity of an enzyme that activates cancer-causing chemicals is a good thing no matter where the chemicals come from! |
Gabriel Cousens
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| In fact, smokers are five times more likely than nonsmokers to have gum disease. For smokers with diabetes, the risk is even greater. If you are a smoker with diabetes, age 45 or older, you are twenty times more likely than a person without these risk factors to get severe gum disease.82
Diabetes as an Accelerated Aging Reality
Often diabetes doesn't get diagnosed until its complications begin to arise. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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| The arguments against this system will of course start with the most obvious, which is that this is cruel to those people who are smokers. It's cruel not to cover their health care costs -- what are you going to do, kick them out of the hospitals? My answer to that is that these people are being cruel to themselves in the first place. They are committing suicide -- they're doing it knowingly, willingly, consciously, day after day. If you're smoking, you have no regard for your own health, why should society have any more regard for your health than you do? |
Dr Ron Roberts
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 Cigarette smokers are much more likely to develop occupational asthma than non-smokers. This is because the linings of the air passages are damaged by cigarette smoke and they then react more to other triggers.
It is important to understand there is a risk that long-term occupational asthma can lead to serious and irreversible airway obstruction. If occupational asthma has been diagnosed it is best to change your workplace,- if you can't do this at least try to avoid the offending irritant. If these options are not possible you could wear a face mask or use medications before exposure. |
Lester A. Mitscher and Victoria Toews
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 However, heavy smokers who were also among the most dedicated green tea drinkers (more than ten cups daily) had lipid peroxide profiles similar to nonsmokers. The green tea was able to counteract the damaging effects of tobacco use, and the decreased levels of this marker of tobacco use attested to the beneficial effect of the tea.7
Another group of Japanese researchers reported similar good news about green tea. At the 1991 International Symposium on Physiological and Pharmacological Effects of Camellia sinensis (Tea): Implications for Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, and Public Health, Dr. |
| Environmental factors play a role in cancer of the bladder, with cases much more common in cigarette smokers and industrial workers (including the dye, chemical, leather, and rubber industries). Polyphenols may mitigate some of the harmful effects of tobacco use. The International Agency for Research on Cancer determined that smokers with a high intake of polyphenols "are partially protected against the harmful effects of tobacco carcinogens within their bladder mucosal cells. |
Attaining Medical Self SufficiencyDuncan Long
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| The study found that only three of every 200 heavy smokers (using at least 25 cigarettes a day from the age of 35 onward) will live to age 90. Nine out of every 200 light smokers and thirty of every 200 nonsmokers will survive to the age of 90, according to Sir Richard Doll, the head of the study. "These new results are much more extreme than had been suggested by the 20-year follow-up when premature death was 'only' twice as common in smokers as in nonsmokers," Doll said. |
Craig Pepin-Donat
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| The real issue is how best to assist smokers to break this lethal habit. The key is you have to want to quit. The addiction is so powerful that few smokers listen to those who love them. But just because it's hard doesn't mean we shouldn't try. For those readers who want to quit, or who know someone they want to help, there are a number of good solutions available. From professional hypnotherapy to support groups to nicotine patches, shots and successful groups like Smoke Enders and Nicotine Solutions, there is help if you want it. |
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.
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 These people are traditionally heavy smokers. Even nonsmokers among them breathe in lethal doses of secondhand smoke in communal hutches. Not surprisingly, the Papua Highlanders suffer many lung disorders, thanks to the smoking. But studies of those who live into their sixties and beyond have shown that despite the well-documented risk to heart health that is posed by smoking, they have no coronary artery disease.4 They are protected by their diet, which consists almost entirely of nineteen separate varieties of sweet potatoes. |
Dr. Timothy Scott
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| Perhaps because we were not on the same level, the smokers did not seem to even notice us. They consistently turned their heads our direction and exhaled their smoke. We would have breathed in less smoke if we had been seated next to them in the restaurant's smoking section. For those of you who have had similar experiences, let me comfort you with this fact. Many literature reviews of the research have found that passive smoking (breathing smokers' exhaled smoke) poses no risks to non-smokers. Surprised? Then read on. |
Herbert Ross, DC with Keri Brenner, L.Ac.
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| In a poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, 46% of smokers reported experiencing insomnia a few nights a week as compared to 35% of non-smokers.13 Nicotine is rapidly absorbed by the mucous membranes in the mouth and quickly reaches the brain, where it stimulates the release of adrenaline and norepinephrine, hormones that stimulate the body, increase heart rate, and elevate blood pressure.14
Poor Diet
If you eat the typical American diet, it could be making your sleeping problems worse. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
See book keywords and concepts |
| The authors admitted that the mechanism isn't understood, but that it would be prudent to include fresh grapefruit in a weight loss diet.
Why smokers Should Eat More Grapefruit
Meanwhile, even if you're not trying to lose weight, grapefruit's still a good food.
Researchers at Texas A&M University showed that freeze-dried grapefruit pulp, similar to whole grapefruit, reduced the incidence of early colon cancer lesions in an animal model of the disease. Grapefruit juice may help reduce the risk of cancer in smokers. |
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