Originally published October 18 2005
Bone damage is significantly higher among smokers
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Orthopedic specialist Michael Zuscik of the University of Rochester has conducted studies of tobacco's bone-damaging effects.
If he's right, it could dramatically change orthopedic practice for the nation's 48 million smokers.
The first time many smokers ever hear of the problem is if they need spinal fusion, a back operation that surgeons often won't perform unless patients kick the habit --- with a urine test to prove they quit.
Yet tobacco's nicotine provokes a powerful addiction; it can take repeated attempts to succeed in quitting.
Here's the rub: Zuscik's early research suggests nicotine may be a key bone-damaging culprit --- and that it does its dirty work almost immediately by affecting stem cells stored in the bone marrow, called mesenchymal stem cells, that move in to begin healing an injured bone.
"The most important steps that occur involving these mesenchymal stem cells happen during the first days and weeks of the healing process," Zuscik explains.
Now, armed with a new $1.4 million grant from the Defense Department, Zuscik is out to prove that theory, and whether going cold-turkey for a short time after breaking a bone or undergoing bone surgery might help smokers heal faster.
It's of interest to the military because surveys show up to 34 percent of troops smoke, compared with about 22 percent of the general population, and bone damage, particularly to the arms and legs, is common among soldiers injured in combat.
Reasons for link unclear While the link between smoking and bone harm is clear, no one knows why it occurs, says Dr. Thomas Einhorn, chairman of orthopedic surgery at Boston University.
Stem cells are building blocks for tissue, and the first step toward bone healing is for mesenchymal stem cells to transform into cartilage-forming cells.
So the nicotine has only a short time to jump into those cellular docking sites.
Hence Zuscik's theory that this is a window during which smokers should heal more like nonsmokers if only they could abstain.
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