Smokers trying to quit could end up boozing less as well

Those trying to quit smoking for the countless health benefits will be delighted to hear there could be an additional booster from ditching the cigarettes – you may also end up giving up drinking too!

This is according to the findings from a new study, conducted at University College London, where researchers realised that previous studies already identified links between smoking and drink. After all, how many of us have seen someone gulping down a pint whilst simultaneously having a cigarette lit and ready to smoke.

For the new study, published in the journal BMC Public Health, researchers conducted household surveys, finding that 6,287 out of 31,878 people reported smoking between the period of March 2014 and September 2015.

Of these, it was discovered 144 smokers had made an attempt to stop smoking in the week leading up to the survey. Moreover, they had completed a validated questionnaire known as the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test.

Researchers classified the smokers as light or heavy drinkers – and analysed their current attempt to cut down on alcohol.

They then looked at their recent attempt to stop smoking, finding that the ex-smokers generally drank less alcohol within the first week of ditching cigarettes, and they were also less inclined to binge drink.

In addition, they were found to be more likely to be ‘light drinkers’ – staying inside the governmental drinking guidelines, in comparison to the smokers who were not trying to stop smoking.

Lead author Jamie Brown, from University College London, England, said: “This study found that smokers who reported attempting to stop within the last week had lower levels of alcohol consumption, especially binging.”

He added, “These results go against the commonly held view that people who stop smoking tend to drink more to compensate.

“It’s possible that they are heeding advice to try to avoid alcohol because of its link to relapse.”
The study also took into account what accessible literature there was on regarding the relationship between smoking and alcohol consumption.

Drinking alcohol is often thought to be a sign of a lapse – seeing newly-quit smokers going back to their old habits. For this reason, smokers are often told to reduce alcohol intake whilst trying to quit.
Dr Brown noted that this was an observational study and is unable to say for certain if stopping smoking can cause a decrease in drinking or vice versa. He did say that smokers could choose to ditch that extra glass of wine or pint of beer during their attempt to quit smoking, as a booster to their chances of being successful.

On the other hand, it could be the case that those who drink less are simply more likely to quit smoking.

Therefore, smokers that are also heavy drinkers will need more forms of encouragement to stub out in comparison to other groups. In addition to money spent on trying to get people to stop smoking, future health campaigns could also target people trying to quit smoking in order to reduce their drinking.

Passive smoking linked to infertility and earlier menopause

With the end of another year almost up, many of us will be thinking about our New Year’s Resolutions for 2016. Perhaps they could include losing weight, cutting down on alcohol, giving up chocolate…but the most common resolution is usually quitting smoking.

This is not such a bad thing though; smoking is linked to numerous forms of cancer, in addition to heart disease, stroke and many more serious health problems, and a new study has demonstrated that even passive (second-hand) smoking could be the cause of infertility and an earlier menopause in women.

Published online in the Dec. 15 edition of the journal Tobacco Control, the new study reports that women with exposure to high levels of tobacco – either smoking themselves or passively – could have a menopause that occurs one or two years earlier compared to those who have never smoked or exposed to passive smoking.

For the study, researchers assessed data on 79,690 women in the age range of 50 to 79 that had completed the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study (WHI OS) – a large study began in 1991 to monitor the health of over 160,000 healthy, postmenopausal women. 88,000 women were analysed for fertility effects, with another 80,000 analysed for the onset of natural, or nonsurgical, menopause.

All of the women had experienced a ‘natural’ menopause – meaning the woman had not had a period for 12 consecutive months and they had not had surgery to remove their ovaries.

Previous research has identified a connection between smoking and higher rates of infertility and earlier menopause. However, “second-hand smoke is less researched,” especially among never-smoking women, commented the study author Andrew Hyland, chair of health behaviour at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, in Buffalo, N.Y.

Researchers discovered that smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke were found to be associated with fertility problems and an earlier onset of menopause (i.e. prior to the typical age of 50).

Current or ex-smokers were found to be around 14% more likely to be infertile and 26% more likely to experience an earlier menopause in comparison to those that had never smoked. Hyland stressed that early menopause has been linked with a higher risk of death from all causes.

The study also found that for the never-smokers exposed to the highest levels of second-hand smoke – such as living with a smoker for a decade or more – were an estimated 18% more likely to have fertility problems and early menopause.

Women who had previously smoked, reached the menopause on average about 22 months before the women that had neither smoked or been exposed to smoke. Moreover, it was found those exposed to the highest level of passive smoke reached menopause 13 months earlier than those not exposed.
This latest study is just one of many important reminders that we should avoid all smoke, said Patricia Folan, director of the Center for Tobacco Control at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, N.Y.

“This study provides additional motivation and incentive for women of all ages to avoid smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke, as well as to quit smoking,” she said. Both are associated with premature birth, low birth weight, infant death and certain birth defects, she added.

“This evidence, in addition to the data from the current study, offers health care providers, particularly ob-gyn practitioners, the information needed to counsel women about the hazards of smoking and second-hand smoke, and to encourage cessation,” Folan said.

Stoptober is Back! Medical Specialists® Pharmacy urge the nation's smokers to join the annual stop smoking attempt

Let’s be honest – there is never a bad time to stop smoking. Smokers can kick the habit on any given day or week, but if there is an ideal time to try and with a boosted chance of giving up for good, the month of October is a great time of the year to start.

The 1st October will see the launch of what is now a regular addition to the calendar - the annual 28-day Stoptober campaign, created and funded by Public Health England as an effective drive to encourage more of the nation to kick smoking into touch.

Last year saw over a quarter of a million smokers make the pledge to try and stop smoking, with a huge increase in the number of patients coming to Medical Specialists® Pharmacy for information about obtaining the popular smoking cessation treatment Champix (Varenicline), and the pharmacy expects a similar sales surge for 2015, if not much bigger.

Data from the Office for National Statistics show that 18.7% of adults in the UK smoked in 2013 - down from 19.8% in 2012. After the conclusion of last year’s Stoptober, Public Health England say its latest figures indicated that smoking rates had continued to fall during the last few months of 2014.

A 4 week duration is used for the Stoptober challenge due to the fact that research has shown those who manage to abstain from smoking for 28 days are actually 5 times more likely to quit for good. In addition, it is often said for every 28 days a smoker quits for, they could add an extra week onto their lifespan.

At Medical Specialists®, we know that making the leap into tobacco-free territory can be difficult and stressful, but those deciding to stop smoking should realise they are not alone. Literally thousands of others have made the same pledge to stop too, which should provide a welcome boost to willpower.

In addition, those that decide to sign up to this year’s Stoptober will receive a personal helping hand in their efforts, courtesy of some of the UK’s favourite comedians, such as Al Murray, Bill Bailey, Rhod Gilbert and Shappi Khorsandi. Quitters that register for the service can expect to be inundated with light-hearted and humorous messages of support and encouragement, sent straight to the participant’s phone and email during the 28 day period of Stoptober.

Comedian Rhod Gilbert decided to throw his support behind the annual Stoptober campaign after being a smoker himself for 25 years, toiling for 23 years of those attempting to quit. He says: “I know first-hand that it can be hard to find the motivation to quit, but Stoptober is the perfect time to give it a go,” he says.

There are countless benefits to ditching cigarettes. For example, quitters can expect to notice many physical improvements such as a boosted sense of taste and smell, increased energy levels, reduced signs of facial aging and wrinkles, whiter teeth, fresher breath and even better sex due to the improved blood flow and stronger erections for men.

Moreover, people that successfully quit smoking will have much serious longer term benefits, such as a lower risk of suffering from heart disease and a wide range of cancers such as lung cancer, not to mention protecting the health of those in the surrounding vicinity as there will now be no secondhand smoke for them to inhale.

Despite the fact smoking rates have come down in recent years, smoking remains the biggest factor behind preventable illness and premature death in the country - responsible for nearly 80,000 deaths per year in England alone.

Smokers aged 18 or above that want to quit, can use the support Stoptober as a foundation for doing so, along with help from Medical Specialists®.

Begin the road to a smoke-free future today by obtain the smoking cessation medication Champix following an online consultation with one of Medical Specialists’ GMC registered doctors. Champix works out from as little £26.95* a pack. The treatment works by mimicking the effect of nicotine on the body, reducing the urge to smoke and relieving withdrawal symptoms. It can also decrease the enjoyment you experience of smoking if you are still smoking whilst on the treatment.

(*based on private prescription price)

Quit smoking for 15 years…and it could be like you had never smoked!

All smokers take note: new research has shown that those successfully quit smoking for a sustained period of 15 years, can massively decrease the chance of suffering with heart failure or even dying.

U.S. Scientists made the remarkable discovery that people who stopped smoking almost two decades previously, had a comparable risk to those that had never smoked before.

Despite the findings clearly being a positive for all smokers across the globe, heavier smokers – i.e. those that had gone through at least a packet of cigarettes each day for 32 years or more – still had a slightly increased risk of health problems.

However, lead researcher Dr Ali Ahmed, from the Washington DC VA Medical Center, is pretty clear with the message…people either need to cut down on their smoking, stop smoking as early as they can, or simply never start smoking.

He commented: “While all individuals who quit smoking will benefit from a decreased chance of death, to achieve the full complement of health benefits of smoking cessation of one who has never smoked, smokers need to smoke less and quit early, and for those are not smokers – never start smoking.”

The findings were extracted via the most recent data from the Cardiovascular Health Study, which comprised of 2,556 people that had claimed to never smoked, 629 present smokers and 1,297 previous smokers. Every participant in the study was aged 65 or over, and 312 of the previous smokers admitted to heavy cigarette usage – smoking at least one pack daily for 32 years or more.

After a 13 year follow-up evaluation, the proportion of never smokers and previous smokers who had suffered heart failure, was found to be 21% in both groups. Within the group of former smokers that had consumed one pack per day for at least 32 years, nearly 30% suffered heart failure.

Comparison of mortality risks among present smokers and heavy smokers to never smokers was an interesting find. Researchers accounted for factors such as age, sex, race, education, other health conditions and medications, discovering that present smokers were around twice more likely to die from other diseases in comparison to those that had never smoked, and previous smokers were found to be 26% more likely to die compared to the never smokers.

Dr Ahmed told Reuters: “When one smokes, it induces atherosclerosis, or the buildup of plaque in the arteries. However, when one quits smoking, the buildup of plaque and risk of blood of clots decreases, allowing one’s cardiovascular risk to return to normal over time.”

Atherosclerosis is the medical term used when a person’s arteries have become narrower and harderned, usually caused by a high level of ‘bad’ low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
Statins like atorvastatin (Lipitor) and rosuvastatin (Crestor) are currently taken by around 7 million people in Britain, and work to decrease rates of LDL cholesterol by reducing the production of LDL cholesterol inside the liver. It is dangerous to have high rates of LDL cholesterol as this causes the atherosclerosis, resulting in a higher risk of heart attack, stroke and coronary heart disease.

Exploding e-cigarettes putting lives at risk

The safety of electronic cigarettes has been plunged into further doubt after an electronic cigarette user almost had his legs blown off due to one of the devices ‘exploding like a grenade’.

Medics that initially treated 48-year-old David Aspinall from Wigan, thought he had been the unfortunate victim of a gun attack when they first saw his gruesome, serve injuries.

Mr Aspinall’s life was almost destroyed by the exploding e-cigarette as his home quickly set ablaze and he then had to spend 9 days in hospital recovering from the traumatic ordeal.

He was in the middle of using the device when it overheated and exploded, resulting in shards of metal ripping into his limbs and his home being set on fire.

Speaking to The Sun, Mr Aspinall, who now faces up to three years of skin grafts to recover, said: “It glowed and burned in my hand. I dropped it and it exploded. There was lots of blood, a huge hole in one leg and a gash in the other. It could have blown my head off. The surgeon said it was like someone had used a gun.”

Even though ex-decorator Mr Aspinall had suffering shocking injuries and lost a litre of blood in the process, he managed to reach his neighbour, who likened the scene to that in a horror film.

Mr Aspinall has now reverted to conventional cigarettes, arguing – maybe questionably – that they are the safer option: He added: “I’m back on ciggies. It’s safest”, and is now proceeding to sue the maker of the Mutant Clone e-cigarette for compensation. The shop who sold him the device has blamed faulty batteries for the disaster.

This is not the first time an electronic cigarette has exploded however, and questions will now be raised about the safety of them.

. In August of this year, David Thomson, 62, died at home in Wallasey, Merseyside, after an e-cigarette he had left to charge then exploded and ignited oxygen equipment in the same room.

. In April of this year, pensioner Jen Booth was on a ward at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, when an e-cigarette ignited her oxygen supply and engulfed her in flames. The 65-year-old suffered serious burns.

. In the same month Jen Booth suffered burns, a woman in Barking, East London required hospital treatment due to smoke inhalation and shock after her flat was set alight – all because of an e-cigarette being used with an incompatible charger.

. Also in April, CCTV managed to capture the moment an e-cigarette exploded into flames at the Buck Inn Hotel in Richmond, South-West London. Pub worker Laura Baty, 18, was fortunate to escape severe injury.

It is perhaps for these reasons for many are calling for much tighter regulations on the sale of e-cigarettes. With Stoptober still having almost a fortnight to run, it could be wise for smokers to try and quit smoking for good with smoking cessation treatment, such as Pfizer’s Champix. This can mimic the effect of nicotine on the body, reduce the urge to smoke, and even lessen the enjoyment of cigarettes if you do give-in to willpower and smoke whilst on the treatment. It is available today from Medical Specialists® Pharmacy from the drastically lowered price of as little as £27.48* per pack
(*based on a private prescription price).

The poor health and wellbeing of the UK is exposed!

Let’s face it…many of us probably have at least some awareness of what it means to be healthy. Eat five portions of fruit and vegetables per day, engage in regular exercise, do not smoke – or quit smoking if already doing so, limit alcohol intake to 2-3 units each day for women and 3-4 for men, and keep a healthy body mass index (BMI).

But is the nation sticking to their health guidelines and are  all the numerous national health campaigns actually doing their job?

Discovering these things was the aim of The National Health Report 2014 conducted by Benenden Health; a healthcare provider that work in tandem with the NHS, boasting almost a million members to its products.

Benenden’s study involved 4,000 adults from around the UK, assessing the ‘emotional and physical wellbeing of the nation by delving into their lifestyle habits’, seeing how the public perceive health and wellbeing, as well as their opinions on the NHS.

The analysis primarily utilised eight factors as indicators to judge just how well Brits are taking care of themselves. These eight health indicators were: sleep; portions of fruit and vegetables eaten; water consumption; cardio exercise per week; muscle workouts per week; alcohol consumed per week; cigarettes smoked per day and BMI.

A comprehensive comparison of different areas was able to be reached, and determined the health of ‘Mr & Mrs Average’ in the UK. Unfortunately the average male and female Brit appear to be disregarding just about all health and wellbeing advice, guidelines, etc, and it seems we are a nation that are overweight, unfit, tired and dehydrated.

To be ‘healthy’, adults are generally advised to be consuming five portions of fruit and veg every day, have a BMI that is somewhere in the range of 18 and 25, drink 1.6 – 2 litres of water each day and get 7 – 8 hours of sleep each night. This table demonstrates what we should be aiming for:

When it comes to the obvious ‘bad’ vices, smoking is clearly totally a no-no due to the absurd amount of toxic cancer-causing chemicals in cigarettes, whilst according to government guidelines, men should not be drinking over 21 units of alcohol each week and for women it is just 14.
However, the following table shows that many of us are not taking any notice of what is good for our bodies and sticking to what is recommended for us:

It is apparent that we aren’t stupid and we’re fully aware we are unhealthy, we just don’t bother to rectify the situation.

The thousands of people in the study were asked how healthy they believe the nation to be, and a staggering 71% replied ‘not very healthy’ or ‘not at all healthy’. Interestingly, only 29% provided negative answers when asked the same question about the state of the nation’s health 50 years previously.

Speaking about the findings, medical director of Benenden Health, Dr John Giles, said: “At a time when modern medicine is making consistent major breakthroughs to give us longer lives and treat illnesses that even 20 years ago were fatal, the UK population appears to be doing everything in its power to make those extra years as unhealthy and miserable as possible. We cannot continually rely on the NHS to pick up the pieces of our below average approach to looking after ourselves: this laissez-faire approach is massively overburdening our country’s health service. An ageing population and advances in medical science, alongside the surge in complex chronic illnesses, mean the NHS as it was originally conceived is becoming increasingly threatened.”

Smokers encouraged to quit for No Smoking Day on 12 March

Medical Specialists Pharmacy is proudly supporting the next annual No Smoking Day, which will be taking place on 12 March 2014. Whether it is for this yearly awareness day, month-long campaigns such as ‘Stoptober’, for a New Year’s Resolution, or any other particular occasion, basically there is always a good reason to quit smoking today, not way in the future.

No Smoking Day is being pioneered by the British Heart Foundation, who understand not everybody can go ‘cold turkey’ and suddenly quit smoking for good instantly, but they are encouraging smokers to quit at least just for this one day to prove to themselves they can do it. It is hoped this one day smoke free will increase their motivation to quit for good in the long-run; this can be achieved with the help of smoking cessation medication such as Champix.

Now is the perfect time to quit as Medical Specialists Pharmacy have just drastically reduced the price of Champix to its lowest ever price! Prices have been reduced by as much as a whopping 50%. For instance, an online consultation for the Champix starter pack was £75, but this has now come down to just £38.95! For those already with a private prescription, the price is even lower, at a mere £27.48.

Everyone may have their own personal reasons for wanting to give up smoking. In the current financial climate, paying almost £10 for a packet of cigarettes is simply not feasible, with food and bills obviously much more important. For others, quitting could be part of a much wider plan to become healthier and include increasing exercise, eating better, etc.

A packet of 20 cigarettes can set you back around £7-£8, so the average 20-a-day smoker could suddenly have an extra £56 in their pocket each week. Wondering what to spend all that extra cash on? If you are spending £7 each day on your smoking habit, here’s what else you could be spending your money on:

1 day (£7): Two movie rentals or a new lipstick.
1 week (£49): A family cinema trip or a meal for two.
1 month (£210): A shopping spree or premiership football tickets.
3 months (£630): A new laptop or the latest flat screen TV.
6 months (£1,260): A leather suite or a home cinema.
1 year (£2,555): A new kitchen or a holiday of a lifetime.

If all that wasn’t music to your ears, you will feel extra money in your pocket in other ways. You will now suddenly find that life, home and car insurance will now be cheaper because you are a non-smoker.

It is worth remembering that you and everybody around you will reap the massive benefits from you stopping smoking. Your friends and family will no longer be inhaling second-hand smoke and having their health badly impacted too and for you personally, this is what you can look forward to in the forthcoming 12 months after stopping smoking:

20 minutes

Your heart rate and blood pressure return to a normal level.

8 hours

Oxygen levels return to normal as the nicotine and carbon monoxide begin to leave your body.

24 hours

Mucus and other smoking debris is cleared from the lungs.

48 hours

Nicotine should have been removed from your body by this stage and your sense of smell and taste are boosted.

2 – 12 weeks

Breathing improves and you find exercising is easier.

3 – 9 months

Any coughs, wheezing and breathing problems are reduced as your lungs repair.

1 year

You now have half the risk of coronary heart disease than that of a smoker.

If you want to get involved with No Smoking Day you can visit here or here to download the huge and informative campaign handbook which has details about the history of the day, what is included in the ‘V for Victory’ kit and advice for schools, employers and much more. On the downloads page of the British Heart Foundation website you can even see the smoking percentage statistics for your specific town and compare this against other regions within the United Kingdom.

Alarming figures show almost one billion smokers on the planet

The earth’s population has more than doubled in the last 50 years, soaring to 7.1 billion according to the United States Census Bureau (USCB).

Inevitably, this has impacted the total number of smoker’s around the globe, with estimates showing there could be almost one billion people around the world who are lighting up. This is despite the fact that the habit is becoming less popular in certain parts of the world as people become more concerned for their health and the reality hits home that smoking is an incredibly expensive habit.

In 1980 it was estimated that the total number of global smokers stood at around 721 million. However, in 2012, this figure now stood at 967 million, according to data that was collated from 187 countries. The rise has occurred even though on the whole, the percentage of the population smoking on a daily basis across the globe has actually come down.

Research by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) have highlighted a spiralling population on the earth for the huge rise in smoking rates, with Bangladesh, China and Russia witnessing a particularly high number of inhabitants beginning to smoke during the last few years. Researchers noted that surprisingly, some of the largest smoking rates can be seen in the developing world.

Over half of the males in many countries smoke on a daily basis, such as those in Russia, Indonesia, Armenia, and Timor Leste.

At the other end of the scale however, the lowest smoking rates for men are found in Antigua and Barbuda, Sao Tome and Principe, and Nigeria. Smoking rates are lowest for women in Eritrea, Cameroon, and Morocco.

The small country of East Timor can claim the unwanted title of having the highest prevalence of tobacco use, with 61% of its population lighting up each and every day.

Two Caribbean Islands – Antigua and Barbuda – could proudly say they were jointly rock bottom of the list, with just 5% of their populations smoking each day.

Particular countries to be commended are Canada, Iceland, Norway and Mexico, all of whom were found to be effective at either getting their inhabitants to quit smoking, or manage to urge them not to start it in the first place.

IHME Director Dr Christopher Murray said: “Despite the tremendous progress made on tobacco control, much more remains to be done. We have the legal means to support tobacco control, and where we see progress being made we need to look for ways to accelerate that progress. Where we see stagnation, we need to find out what’s going wrong.”

Amanda Sandford of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) commented on the research, saying: “As the overall number of smokers worldwide is still rising, this study shows how important it is for all countries to implement a range of tobacco control measures to curb the terrible toll of tobacco-related illness and death. Low and middle-income countries in particular face an enormous challenge to fend off the powerful tobacco industry and stop smoking rates escalating.”

Powerful anti-smoking campaign could shock people into quitting smoking

Smokers could be scared into quitting smoking when they catch a glimpse of a new graphic television advert set to be given its debut today. More than 10 million British adults smoke – around 22 per cent of men and 19 per cent of women, so many will have their eyes opened wide upon seeing the advert, which says “If you could see the damage, you’d stop”.

The advert is said to “bring to life the toxic cycle of dirty blood” generated by the inhalation of cigarette smoke. It has long been common knowledge the devastating impact that cigarettes have on the heart and lungs, with smokers being double the risk of dying from a stroke in comparison to non-smokers.

However, health officials have now used the new campaign get the message across how the toxic chemicals in cigarettes – such as arsenic and cyanide – can destroy cells in the brain. This therefore increased the risk of not only stroke, but suffering dementia and cognitive decline is also greatly increased.

The campaign has been funded by Public Health England and has been launched by the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies.

“We know about the serious effect smoking has on the heart and lungs but smokers need to be aware of how much potential damage is being done to the brain and other vital organs through toxins in cigarettes entering the blood,” she commented.

She added: “Smoking is the major cause of premature death, with one in two smokers dying prematurely from smoking related diseases, and it is extremely worrying that people still underestimate the health harms associated with it. However, it is not all doom and gloom for smokers looking to quit this New Year. Within five years of stopping smoking, your risk of stroke can be reduced to the same as a lifetime non-smoker.”

In addition to the obvious health benefits of people quitting smoking, there is also a hugely underestimated impact on the economy as a result of smoking. In particularly, a staggering amount to the tune of £5 billion is lost each and every year due to health costs, sick leave and lost productivity.

Professor Kevin Fenton, national director for health and wellbeing for Public Health England, speaking to the BBC News, said: “Tar, arsenic, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide – these all have either effects that they can cause cancers or they can cause significant amounts of damage to the lining of blood vessels. We really want to draw attention to that toxic nature of cigarette smoke and the ways it can be dealt with – which are either to stop smoking or to switch to healthier nicotine delivery systems – for example nicotine patches etc.”

Professor Fenton argued that there is so much more than can still be done to urge more people to kick the habit into touch.

Also speaking to BBC News was somebody who has successfully managed to quit smoking. John Lee, suffered a stroke that “came out of the blue” at the age of just 42. This resulted in paralysis to the left side of his body.

“I had been playing golf in Portugal. I flew home, got in the shower, felt a bit light-headed and that was it. My twins were seven years old at the time…The children were devastated. It’s really hard to explain the effect a stroke has. It doesn’t just affect you, it affects everyone around you. I was married at the time – since then my marriage has broken down, basically due to the stroke. The children have gone from having a dad that can run around and play football and do everything with them, to basically being able to do nothing. I would encourage anyone never to start smoking.”

E-cigarettes described as life-savers – but how safe are they?

Scientists say that if all the smokers around the world converted to using e-cigarettes instead of smoking regular tobacco cigarettes, millions of deaths could be avoided.

According to public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), smoking is responsible for the deaths of around 100,000 each year just in the UK alone. Globally, 600,000 lives are lost due to secondhand smoke exposure alone.

ASH also say that an estimated 80% of deaths from lung cancer can be attributed to smoking, in addition to 80% of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema, and around 17% of deaths from heart disease can be put down to smoking.

The pros and cons of e-cigarettes were the source of discussion on Tuesday as 250 scientists, experts, policymakers and industry figures all convened for the E-Cigarette Summit at the Royal Society in London.

In the UK there are currently about 700,000 people using e-cigarettes. There are those who combine ‘vaping’, as it is usually referred to, with regular tobacco-based cigarettes, whereas others quit smoking regular cigarettes and simply use e-cigarettes.

A battery-operated e-cigarette works by vaporising a liquid solution containing nicotine. Regular cigarettes are comprised of thousands of toxic chemicals that are linked to a wide number of health problems such as many types of cancer, heart disease and stroke. Despite still containing nicotine – albeit a much lesser amount – e-cigarettes are considered substantially safer than regular cigarettes.
“Cigarettes are killing 5.4-million people per year in the world,” said health psychology professor and Cancer Research UK director of tobacco studies Robert West as he spoke to delegates.

Professor West said millions of lives could be saved each year if smokers switched to e-cigarettes and added: “The big question, and why we’re here, is whether that goal can be realized and how best to do it…and what kind of cultural, regulatory environment can be put in place to make sure that’s achieved. I think it can be achieved but that’s a hope, a promise, not a reality.”

He also commented how e-cigarettes were involved in nearly a third of all attempts to quit smoking. They are between 95% and 99% safer than regular cigarettes, yet some countries still insist on banning them. Whether or not regulation involving medicinal rules should be introduced was a hot topic for debate among the delegates, of which some voiced concerns about e-cigarettes becoming a gateway for people who have not previously smoked.

Added to the fears about e-cigarettes, is just how safe they are without necessary regulations in place. Some poorly-manufactured e-cigarettes have been reported to overheat and even combust.

ASH CE Deborah Arnott acknowledged the benefits of them for public health, but stressed there is still a certain lack of understanding about their long-term effects. She also said that perhaps worryingly, tobacco companies are buying out the major e-cigarette manufacturers.

She commented: “ASH thinks that e-cigarettes have significant potential. They are a lot less harmful than smoking. Clearly smokers find them attractive, primarily as a way of quitting and moving away from smoking, which they know will kill them. I think the jury’s out and these products need regulating because there’s a real concern that their safety and effectiveness is not guaranteed without regulation.”

Arnott added: “The tobacco companies are moving in. For them it’s potentially a ‘Kodak moment’ because if everyone moved to e-cigarettes, they’d lose their market, so they’ve got to be in there. A lot of the bigger e-cigarette companies have already been bought up. If there are carcinogens in there, you won’t see an immediate effect but 10, 15, 20 years down the line, people will be dying from that. The development of e-cigarettes is definitely running ahead of the science.”

Website showing ghastly effects of smoking is launched as Stoptober enters final week

As we enter the final seven days of the Stoptober challenge, Medical Specialists Pharmacy would like to say a huge well done to the thousands of you who have made it this far and good luck in your quest to hopefully remain smoke-free for the rest of 2013 and beyond!

Stoptober is basically just October…without the cigarettes! Health experts say that if you stop smoking for 28 days you are in fact five times more likely to actually remain smoke-free for good!

Almost 21,000 followers have been amassed on the Stoptober Twitter page, as fellow smokers encourage each other on through the month.  In addition to helping each other with words of encouragement, smokers can still receive their free support pack as well as regular text messages that help to keep you focused, daily emails packed full of useful tips and advice, and there is even an interactive mobile app for iPhone and Android smartphones.

If you still need reasons or motivation to quit, this month has seen the interactive website ‘Tobacco Body’ launched by Finnish doctors in conjunction with the Cancer Society of Finland.

Users can first select the female or male body, and then browse through different areas such as ‘acne’, ‘face’, ‘hair’, etc. to see quite disturbing effects of smoking. It is plainly obvious to see the damage when the healthier non-smoker’s portion of the body is juxtaposed against the post-smoking side.
If it’s not bad enough that looks are severely impacted, smokers are at double the risk of a blood clot and usually have a worsened sex life. Male smokers have decreased blood flow to the penis, and are twice as likely as non-smokers to suffer with erectile dysfunction.

Smokers’ sperm density is also negatively affected, with the toxins in cigarettes diminishing both concentration and mobility of sperm cells in semen, harming the cell’s structure, according to the website.

With regards to skin, the website explains “smokers are more likely to get spots as smoking weakens the circulation which increases the risk of infection. It also make acne more difficult to deal with.”
Women smokers may not be aware of this fact, but the site also describes that smoking can actually cause hair growth on the face and arms as smoking increases levels of the male hormone, testosterone. However, there is good news in that acne and excessive hair growth in women can be treated through medications such as Dianette or Yasmin.

One person who is well on the way to permanently stubbing out cigarettes is Mike Wellings, finance director at Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

Mike, a bit fitness fanatic, was finding his stamina being limited because of smoking, saying: “I play lots of sport but I’ve found that smoking really impacts my performance. There’s also the combination of family pressure and health reasons. And, of course, I work in a hospital and it’s important to set an example.”

Like so many who wish to quit smoking, Mike decided to turn to the smoking cessation medication Champix to get him through Stoptober and beyond.

He explained: He said: “I actually started the course on the Sunday before Stoptober started. I used to smoke about 20 a day and now it’s gone down to about three. Champix makes it taste disgusting. And I’ve been drinking lots of fluids to combat the cravings too. I’ve been smoking for nearly 30 years. I tried quitting before, about four years ago when I was in Doncaster, and I managed to stop for three months. Then one day work got the better of me and I had a cigarette.  Everyone has been really supportive this time. I’m taking it just one day at a time.”

If you are a smoker who is aged 18 or above and wants to quit, you can quit today with the help of Medical Specialists Pharmacy. You can obtain the smoking cessation medication Champix following an online consultation with one of Medical Specialists’ GMC registered doctors. Champix works out from as little as just £75.00 per pack and mimics the effect of nicotine on the body, and as Mike Wellings discovered, decreases the enjoyment of smoking if you decide to have a cigarette whilst on the treatment.

E-cigarettes found to contain dangerous chemicals

Electronic cigarettes are not the harmless devices their manufacturers would have you believe and are “potentially carcinogenic” according to a French consumer advocacy group, who say that some are even as harmful as normal tobacco.

The report, published by monthly magazine 60 Millions Consommateurs (60 Million Consumers), details the findings of the National Consumers’ Institute who utilised a new and intelligent method to analyse 10 separate reusable and disposable e-cigarette models.

Their analysis follows the French government unveiling plans back in May this year to prohibit electronic cigarettes from public places in France, which may cause some degree of upset to the estimated one million smokers of the devices in the country.

According to the National Consumers’ Institute, the tests showed that three out of 10 e-cigarettes contained a similar quantity of formaldehyde as regular cigarettes, in addition to other hazardous chemicals such as acrolein, chrome, nickel and propylene glycol – which can cause various respiratory and immune deficiency problems.

Thomas Laurenceau, editor of the National Consumer Insitute magazine, wrote: “We detected a significant quantity of carcinogenic molecules in the vapour of these cigarettes which have thus far gone undetected. In three models out of ten the levels of the carcinogenic compound formaldehyde come close to those of a conventional cigarette. The highly toxic molecule acrolein was also detected in the vapours of e-cigarettes, sometimes at levels even higher than in traditional cigarettes.”

However, the report was also scathing in its assessment of certain models not having safety caps as the nicotine levels within the liquid of an electronic cigarette may prove lethal if ingested by children.
Mr Laurenceau continued: “It’s not a reason to ban them, but a good reason to control them.”

Just five months ago during an interview with a radio station, French health expert Professor Bertrand Dauzenberg spoke of his belief that e-cigarettes were counter-productive and having the opposite affect that they were meant for, commenting: “These electronic cigarettes could also lead children to start smoking and sale should be banned to minors. However for heavy smokers, I believe these will reduce the health risks, but the best way to quit smoking is the patch or chewing gum.”

The furore in France follows similar apprehensions regarding the safety of e-cigarettes in the UK, following the announcement in June that from 2016 The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will regulate e-cigarettes as medicines when new European-wide tobacco laws are due to be introduced.

This means electronic cigarette manufacturers will face much stricter regulations than previously, being forced to adhere to strict safety standards or risk a ban on the sale of their products. Part of the concern is that e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which can be highly addictive and can lead to heart problems.

Perhaps quitting smoking, and not just reverting to e-cigarettes, is the recommended path to take for smokers. It is clear that many e-cigarettes and all regular cigarettes can cause a varying degree of health problems. Fortunately, Medical Specialists Pharmacy is able to help you quit smoking with the aid of the smoking cessation medication Champix, which mimics the effect of nicotine on the body, reducing the urge to smoke and relieving withdrawal symptoms. It can also decrease the enjoyment you experience of smoking if you are still smoking whilst on the treatment.

Smoking rate could soon fall to under 20%

Smoking prevalence amongst adults in England is still steadily declining at approximately 0.5% – 1% each year and will soon be below 20% for the first time in a century, according to an expert involved in an on-going study into the smoking rate across England.

The proportion of smokers in England was just 20.1% in 2011; when annual results from the survey were last published. Barring any unlikely change to the trend, rates are set to drop under the ‘psychologically significant’ 20% mark.

Professor Robert West, from University College London, who co-heads the Smoking Toolkit Study, said: “2013 is going to be, almost without doubt, the first year for a hundred years where we’re solidly below 20% smoking prevalence in England. It’s going to be a big year. We are making progress. It’s slow, and we’d like it to be quicker, but things are going in the right direction.”

The Smoking Toolkit Study analyses the smoking habits of people over the age of 16 each month, with data being made available online. Information is also obtained by researchers via household surveys from almost 2,000 people.

According to the survey, average smoking prevalence across England currently stands at 19.1%, with obvious discrepancies between demographics.

For instance, with regards to the socio-economic scale, only around 13% of people are smokers in the upper and middle A, B and C1 social brackets. However, over a quarter of people smoke in the C2, D and E groups.

Professor West is almost certain that the overall yearly figure will fall to under 20%. He says: “It’s looking very promising. We’re at a psychologically significant point. My guess is that the publicity around it will help to stop even more people smoking.”

Over 100,000 people die each year due to a smoking-related disease, and tobacco use is still the single biggest cause of preventable death.

Smoking surveys were first formulated back in 1948 when a staggering 82% of men in the UK were smokers. During the 1970s to 1990s, smoking prevalence decreased dramatically and a slow decline is continuing in the present day.

Professor West believes long-term reduction in smoking rates will not suddenly come to a halt anytime soon. “We don’t see that happening in England,” he said. “The decline now is between about 0.5 and one percentage point a year, which is a pretty decent rate. There’s no evidence that it’s plateauing.”

Reasons for the decline were probably down to a number of factors he said such as the price of tobacco regularly being increased by the government, media campaigns and services available to help smokers quit.

Quit smoking with the help of Medical Specialists Pharmacy and reduce the risk of developing a smoking-related disease. You can obtain Champix today following an online consultation with one of our GMC registered doctors. It works out from as little as just £75.00 per pack. Champix mimics the effect of nicotine on the body, reducing the urge to smoke and relieving withdrawal symptoms. It can also decrease the enjoyment you experience of smoking if you are still smoking whilst on the treatment.

Quitting smoking – not ‘cutting down’ – improves life expectancy

Do you think you are being healthy by cutting down on cigarettes? Think again…New research suggests that smokers who merely cut down on their smoking instead of actually fully quitting, are unlikely to extend their lifespan.

The claims emerge from a huge study conducted by researchers from both Glasgow and Stirling Universities, spanning an incredible four decades.

Approximately 5,200 smokers from Scotland’s ‘central belt’ were involved in two smoking studies from the early 1970s. Despite the name, the central belt is not exactly central Scotland, but is actually the Scottish Highlands to the north and the Southern Uplands to the south; the area of highest population density in Scotland.

The participants were then asked about their smoking habits several years later. For instance, about whether they had managed to quit, had reduced how many cigarettes they smoked daily, or kept a similar level of smoking habit up, or even increased.

Data was compiled between the 1970s and 2010, documenting each death during this time from those in the two studies. The researchers noted that people who had successfully stopped smoking had lower mortality rates in comparison to those who had kept up the deadly habit. Moreover, there was no massive difference discovered in mortality rates between the smokers who had cut down their intake and those who had not.

Professor Linda Bauld, one of the report’s authors from Stirling University, commented: “Our results support the view that reducing the number of cigarettes you smoke is not a reliable way of improving your health in the long term. However, what we do now know is that it may have a valuable role as a step toward giving up altogether, through cutting down to quit, an approach that has been recommended in recent guidance in the UK.”

The findings however do not correlate with a similar long-term study conducted in Israel, whereby the results seemed to suggest that decreasing the number of cigarettes smoked can reduce mortality rates, although the results of the Scottish study back up the findings from larger studies of a shorter time period carried out in Denmark and Norway.

Regardless though, what we can be certain of is that smoking is an incredibly dangerous habit for long-term health reduces your lifespan by many years and can impact those around you via secondhand smoke. Medical Specialists Pharmacy and almost every other health body across the world advise smokers to quit smoking rather than just ‘cutting down’. One cigarette per day is still one too many in many people’s eyes.

Let’s not forget that smoking is directly the cause of numerous types of cancer, stroke and heart attacks, can cause male impotence, is terrible for the skin, but the habit is an incredibly expensive one to have to maintain.

The British Heart Foundation have listed the staggering amount of money that can be saved over the duration of a year by giving up smoking, in addition to more appealing things that the cash can be spent on.

They say the financial gains of stopping smoking are:

1 day (£7): Two movie rentals or a new lipstick.
1 week (£49): A family cinema trip or a meal for two.
1 month (£210): A shopping spree or premiership football tickets.
3 months (£630): A new laptop or the latest flat screen TV.
6 months (£1,260): A leather suite or a home cinema.
1 year (£2,555): A new kitchen or a holiday of a lifetime.

Medical Specialists Pharmacy is able to help you quit smoking with the aid of the smoking cessation medication Champix, meaning you will both protect your health and save huge amounts of money in the future as the government continually look to raise tobacco prices.

Champix mimics the effect of nicotine on the body, reducing the urge to smoke and relieving withdrawal symptoms. It can also decrease the enjoyment you experience of smoking if you are still smoking whilst on the treatment. The medication equates to just £75.00 per pack – inexpensive in comparison to the £2,555 you can save over a year by quitting smoking!

Seeing 10 smoking ads can increase the risk of teen smoking by 40%

Tobacco adverts run the risk of persuading teenagers to start smoking according to researchers behind a new study published in the online only journal BMJ Open.
 
Researchers from The Institute for Therapy and Health Research in Germany, claim that by just seeing 10 adverts for tobacco, this can increase risk of youngsters picking up the deadly habit.
The claims emanate from the researcher’s findings from a two and a half year period where they closely tracked over 1,300 non-smoking 10 to 15-year-olds, specifically monitoring the teenager’s exposure to tobacco advertising and their subsequent behaviour.

Whilst tobacco advertising to the public is completely outlawed in the United Kingdom due to the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002, in Germany tobacco advertising on billboards is still permitted. In addition, tobacco smoking in Germany is still advertised in certain magazines, during sporting events, and in petrol stations.  Television and radio advertising for such products however is banned.

The German researchers began monitoring the teenagers – selected from public schools in three separate regions of Germany – in 2008. They were quizzed on how often they had seen certain advertisements, which included those of Germany’s top six most popular cigarette brands as well as eight more non-tobacco products. These included mobile phones, cars, clothes and chocolate.

In 2011, after 30 months had passed, the teenagers were asked the same questions as before. They were also asked about if they had smoked in the previous two and a half years, and if so, how often.
It was discovered that around a third of the study participants (406 in total) had tried smoking in this time frame, in addition to one in 10 (138) admitting they had smoked in the month leading up to the present day.

Moreover, of the 1,300 teenagers, one in 20 (66) stated they had smoked their way through over 100 cigarettes – determined as being ‘established’ smokers by the researchers. Worryingly, 58 of those teenagers said they now smoked every day. A third of those were younger than 14 years of age and only a quarter were at least 16-years-old. The minimum legal age to purchase cigarette or tobacco products in Germany is 18. In comparison, it is illegal to sell tobacco to anybody under the age of 18 in England and Wales but the minimum age for consumption in public is 16.

When the exposure to the different types of advertisements were compared, the non-tobacco products were seen a lot more. However, almost half in the study had seen one particular cigarette advert at least once, whilst 13% had seen the ad over 10 times.

The researchers took into account common influences for picking up the habit and then determined that exposure to tobacco advertising was second only to peer-pressure for beginning to smoke for the first time.

The teens who had seen the most tobacco-related advertisements (11 to 55 times in total) had around the double the chance of becoming either an established or daily smoker in comparison to those who had seen on average the least amount (between 0 to 2.5).

It was calculated that there was a 38% increase of the teenagers becoming ‘established’ smokers for each extra 10 viewings of a tobacco ad and were 30% more likely to become daily smokers compared with the same number of sightings for adverts promoting non-tobacco products.

The authors concluded: “Only exposure to tobacco advertisements predicted smoking initiation, which cannot be attributed to a general receptiveness to marketing.”

If you would like to quit smoking, Medical Specialists Pharmacy can help you do this as we offer the smoking cessation medication Champix for suitable patients.

Champix is not recommended for use in children or adolescents below 18 years of age, however smokers over this age can benefit from the medication, which works to mimic the effect of nicotine on the body, reducing the urge to smoke and relieving withdrawal symptoms. It can also decrease the enjoyment you experience of smoking if you succumb to the urge and have a cigarette whilst on the treatment. The medication equates to just £75.00 per pack – inexpensive compared to an estimated £2,555 you could save each year by quitting smoking!

All you have to do is complete the simple four-step online consultation and if approved by one of our Doctors, they will write a prescription that will be dispensed by our in-house pharmacy team, dispatched to you at your home, place of work, or where ever you choose, discreetly within 24 hours!*

*Allow extra time for overseas deliveries.

Smoking ban leads to annual 5% drop in asthma hospital emergencies

An annual 5% drop in hospital admissions for asthma patients in England requiring treatment could be attributed to the introduction of the 2007 smoking ban, which made it illegal to smoke in all enclosed public places such as restaurants, nightclubs, bars and shopping centres.

The 5% drop basically means that there are around 1900 fewer asthma-related admissions every year, say the authors of a new study who looked at the number of emergency asthma admissions for adults aged 16 and above in England between the duration of April 1997 and December 2010. Affecting roughly 5.9% of the population, the prevalence of asthma in England stands at one of the largest in the world.

For the study, published in the journal Thorax, Researchers based at the University of Bath discovered that there were a total of 502,000 ‘emergency’ hospital visits due to asthma in this time frame. Unsurprisingly, with cold weather being a trigger for symptoms to flare up, more admissions were evident throughout winter months compared to the summer; however numbers of admissions vastly differed depending on the area of the country.

Researchers took into account factors such as varying seasonal temperatures, differences in population size, and long-term patterns in regards to the prevalence of asthma. After considering all of the aforementioned factors, they discovered that emergency admissions for adults with asthma decreased by 4.9% during each of the first three years after the 2007 smoking ban, with a similar percentage decline in all geographical regions of England.

Dr Michelle Sims, author of the paper, said the benefits of the anti-smoking legislation were clear to see, commenting: “Secondhand smoke exposure has significant adverse health effects on the adult respiratory system with current evidence suggesting that it contributes to the onset and exacerbation of asthma. There is already evidence that smoke free legislation in England is associated with reductions in second hand smoke exposure among non-smoking adults and fewer emergency hospital admissions for heart attacks and childhood asthma. Our findings show that these health benefits extend to adult asthma.”

Emily Humphreys, head of policy and public affairs at the charity Asthma UK, said: “Eight out of 10 people with asthma tell us that other people’s smoke makes their asthma worse. That’s why we campaigned for the smoke-free laws and are delighted to see evidence of the benefits these are having on the millions of people with asthma in England. By taking action to reduce asthma triggers, we can prevent asthma attacks that can lead to hospitalisation and even death. However, more still needs to be done to prevent attacks, which kill three people each day in the UK.”

This new study is interesting and certainly highlights how cigarette smoke and asthma can be strongly connected. The findings follow that of a separate study which Medical Specialists Pharmacy reported back in January. Conducted by a team at Imperial College London, that particular study looked at admission rates spanning back to April 2002 and found an incredible 12% decline in childhood asthma hospital admissions during the first 12 months after the ban. This was calculated by taking into account a predicted 2.2% rise annually – and a decline continued in subsequent years with 3.4% fall per year for the next two years.

Asthma is a serious condition that is only worsened by exposure to cigarette smoke. Medical Specialists Pharmacy advise you to immediately quit smoking if you or a loved one also suffers from asthma, and we are able to help you achieve this with the aid of the smoking cessation medication Champix.

Champix mimics the effect of nicotine on the body, reducing the urge to smoke and relieving withdrawal symptoms. It can also decrease the enjoyment you experience of smoking if you are still smoking whilst on the treatment. The medication equates to just £75.00 per pack – inexpensive compared to an estimated £2,555 you can save each year by quitting smoking!

Alternatively, visit the ‘Asthma and Allergies’ area of the Medical Specialists website for a full list of all the preventer and reliever inhalers we provide for suitable patients.

570 children start smoking each day

The Smoking Time Machine smartphone app could not have emerged at a better time it appears after new research suggests that approximately 207,000 11 to 15-year-olds take up smoking every year across the UK. This is the total number from 2011 according to Cancer Research UK – up from 157,000 in 2010.

Broken down, this statistic equates to 570 youngsters lighting up their first cigarette every day in the UK, a staggering statistic and especially when considering the legal age to purchase tobacco products is 16.

The shocking figures came from the annual Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People in England survey.

Following Cancer Research UK’s study of the smoking habits of children in 2010 and 2011, they also found that nearly one in three (27%) under-16s have smoked at least once. This works out at one million children and with eight out of 10 adult smokers beginning prior to turning 19, clearly something needs to be done.

With that in mind, the charity is now calling for all cigarettes to be sold in plain, standard packaging. Australia became the world’s first country to implement this innovative anti-smoking plan in December 2012. The legislation forced all tobacco company logos to be banned from packages and instead replaced by bland, dreary green/brown-coloured packaging with accompanying unpleasant text and photographic warnings.

There is also concern about the addictive nature of cigarettes, with impressionable children initially beginning to smoke and then finding it hard to quit, which will continue into their later years.
The 2010 survey discovered that none of the 12-year-olds were regular smokers, 1% smoked occasionally and 2% said they used to smoke.

However just a year later and within the same group of children, 2% were regularly smoking, 4% smoked occasionally and 3% said they used to smoke. It is believe that around 50% of all long-term smokers will succumb to a smoking-related illness, adding up to 100,000 deaths a year.

Cancer Research UK claim that research shows children regard plain packaging as unappealing and are with such packaging are probably unlikely to be misled by sophisticated marketing that aims to make smoking seem an attraction proposition.

Sarah Woolnough, the charity’s executive director of policy and information, said: “With such a large number of youngsters starting to smoke every year, urgent action is needed to tackle the devastation caused by tobacco. Replacing slick, brightly coloured packs that appeal to children with standard packs displaying prominent health warnings is a vital part of efforts to protect health. Reducing the appeal of cigarettes with plain, standardised packs will give millions of children one less reason to start smoking.”

Public Health Minister Anna Soubry, added: “It’s worrying that these figures show that more 15-year-olds are trying cigarettes. We have consulted on introducing standardised packaging, looking at whether this could reduce smoking in young people. We have an open mind about this. Any decisions to take further action will be taken only after full consideration of the consultation responses and evidence.”

Millions of smokers urged to quit for No Smoking Day

An event that ‘unofficially’ first began thirty years ago is still going strong today as national No Smoking Day is upon us, with an estimated 750,000 smokers using the day as a springboard to a much healthier, tobacco-free future.  No Smoking Day is being supported by the UK charity WeQuit and the British Heart Foundation.

‘Don’t Smoke Day’, as it was first referred to back in 1983 by media, was the brainchild of a retired hospital administrator named Tom Hurst who penned a letter to the Minister for Health, requesting such a day. Hurst was fully aware of the potentially-fatal effects of smoking and believed it was necessary for parliament to implement a day that raised awareness of the issue.

Unfortunately for Hurst, the reply he received back was less than encouraging; “The Minister feels he is unable to support campaigns which might mislead the public into assuming that a causal relationship between tobacco smoking and cancer had been definitely proved.”

Of course, the Minister’s replied has been shown to be nonsense in the subsequent thirty years and it seems that more studies emerge on a daily basis that clearly demonstrate  how dangerous smoking is, being linked to many terminal cancers in addition to other serious health conditions such as multi-generational asthma, sudden cardiac death, osteoporosis and many more.

Realising that many smokers are still ignorant to the damage they are doing to their bodies and turning a blind eye to it, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) have taken advantage of the yearly format to alternate the theme of the day, instead focusing on where else cigarettes can impact smokers – their pockets.

Therefore, those who want to quit smoking are being encouraged to ‘Swap Fags for Swag’. The BHF have even listed the staggering amount of money that can be saved over the duration of a year by giving up, in addition to other more appealing things that the cash can be spent on.
They say the financial gains of stopping smoking are:

1 day (£7): Two movie rentals or a new lipstick.
1 week (£49): A family cinema trip or a meal for two.
1 month (£210): A shopping spree or premiership football tickets.
3 months (£630): A new laptop or the latest flat screen TV.
6 months (£1,260): A leather suite or a home cinema.
1 year (£2,555): A new kitchen or a holiday of a lifetime.

A main reason why the British Heart Foundation are involved in No Smoking Day is because smoking doubles a person’s risk of heart attack and a report they have recently conducted has found that an incredible 82% of smokers have at some point attempted to kick the habit and not succeeded.
In total, 2010 smokers were surveyed and over one in ten commented they were ‘desperate’ to stop smoking. Moreover, 40% had tried to quit between four and 21 times.

Dr Mike Knapton, Associate Medical Director for the BHF, said: “Every year more than 100,000 smokers die because of their addiction. This addiction can be incredibly hard to break and we hear time and again of smokers who are absolutely desperate to quit, they just don’t know where to start. The report reveals that a quarter of smokers are more motivated to give up for financial reasons rather than to benefit their health. The downward trend in smoking rates has plateaued in recent years, proving we need to renew our efforts to help our ‘final fifth’ quit. Often these are long-term smokers, or people surrounded by family, friends and colleagues who smoke. They’re harder to reach, and they’ll probably find it hard to quit. That’s why we all need to reinvigorate our efforts to help smokers and UK governments are part of the mix. We need investment in local stop smoking services and measures such as standardised packaging to help protect our children from the fatal addiction so many people are currently battling with.”

Medical Specialists Pharmacy is able to help you quit smoking with the aid of the smoking cessation medication Champix, meaning you will both protect your health and save huge amounts of money in the future as the government continually raise tobacco prices.

Champix mimics the effect of nicotine on the body, reducing the urge to smoke and relieving withdrawal symptoms. It can also decrease the enjoyment you experience of smoking if you are still smoking whilst on the treatment. The medication equates to just £75.00 per pack – inexpensive in comparison to the approximate £2,555 you can save by quitting smoking!

Grandchildren could develop asthma from their grandmother’s smoking

There are umpteen reasons to quit smoking for good, and it seems that on a daily basis there is yet another story to hit the headlines that highlights more evidence of the massive damage that tobacco does to a person’s health and wellbeing.

However, the researchers behind a study published in the March edition of Review of Obstetrics & Gynecology has pushed the boundaries a little further in this respect with claims regarding smoking and genetic inheritance.

Two Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed), John S. Torday, Ph.D, and Virender K. Rehan, M.D, believe that having a grandmother who smoked can greatly increase your chance of developing the lung respiratory condition asthma – even if your mother was a non-smoker.

They state that the chemicals and environmental factors which impact our body in the present day could have after-effects for family members in future generations due to the nicotine leaving a ‘mark’ on the genome (our complete set of DNA), making future generations more likely to develop conditions such as asthma or COPD.

Referencing studies conducted by Dr. Rehan, the researchers explained in their editorial that pregnant rats administered nicotine went on to breed asthmatic pups, who then also produced asthmatic pups – even though there was no exposure to nicotine in the third generation.

In addition, the researchers also cited the Children’s Health Study from Southern California, which demonstrated that grandmaternal smoking when pregnant can greatly increase the asthma risk for grandchildren, regardless of whether the mother had been a smoker.

The researchers concluded that asthma seen in the second generation was ‘epigenetic modification’ (an environmental factor resulting in a genetic alteration). It was determined that both the lung cells and sex cells were being impacted by nicotine in ways that caused the lungs that developed from those cells to then develop abnormally – resulting in asthma.

This latest study is not the first one to connect smoking asthma, however could be deemed one of the more controversial. Previous studies have long established a link between a mother smoking at her children having a higher risk of developing asthma. Dr. Erika von Mutius published a study in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology over ten years ago where he said: “exposure to tobacco smoke in utero significantly increases asthma risk.”

Dr. Torday commented: “These studies break new ground in validating and further explaining the mechanisms involved in the transmission of epigenetic human diseases. The transmission of the asthma to the second generation and its prevention by a specifically-targeted molecular intervention are the first unequivocal demonstrations of multi-generational transmission of an epigenetically-mediated effect on the offspring.”

Dr. Rehan further added: “Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, resulting in a significant impact on the lives of children and driving up medical costs for all. While many factors contribute to asthma, smoking during pregnancy is a well-established one and one that can be avoided. Eliminating smoking during pregnancy would significantly reduce the prevalence of childhood asthma for this generation and for future generations.”

Graphic ad campaign could shock smokers into quitting

The New Year is just four days away and with a New Year comes fresh determination to make positive changes in our lives as we are on the brink of New Year’s Eve – usually in the form of New Year’s resolutions. These could span from simple life goals such as cut down on chocolate, be a less selfish person, or more serious health-based resolutions such as lose weight or quit smoking.

The latter is such a common resolution to make for England’s 8 million smokers and with this in mind; the UK government has decided to seize the opportunity for our disposition to create health-related resolutions. In particularly, they are targeting these 8 million smokers with a nine-week long £2.7 million ad campaign which begins today and the core aim is to utilise shock tactics in attempt to get people to stop smoking.

TV, posters and billboards and the internet will all be used in The Department of Health’s (DoH) campaign in an attempt to reach the target audience. The disturbing graphic image chosen is that of a tumour growing from a cigarette as it is smoked and is the first ‘shock’-intended campaign since the infamous fatty cigarette advert in 2004 that depicted fatty deposits being squeezed out of a smoker’s artery, with dripping fat coming out of the end of the cigarette.

According to the DoH it merely takes just smoking 15 cigarettes to cause some type of mutation that can lead to cancer. Many people are unaware of this staggering fact though and Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies says that the new campaign has been devised following the gathering of statistics showing that over a third of smokers are under the misguided belief that health risks are over-exaggerated. However, keen readers of the Medical Specialists Pharmacy news section will know that the dangers of smoking  are certainly not exaggerated and smoking-related studies are continuously released, providing plenty of evidence that shows how damaging the habit actually is.

Professor Dame Sally Davies said: “People are playing Russian roulette with their health. What our evidence shows is that people don’t personalise the impact of their own smoking. They don’t understand what’s going on in their own bodies, so that’s why we’re launching such a hard-hitting campaign. It’s to show them a real picture of what cancer looks like and what happens in one in two long-term smokers. This is a hard-hitting campaign to get at the hidden harms of smoking. People will see a man smoking and then a cancer growing out of the cigarette. That is what happens in people’s bodies. One in two smokers dies from smoking, most from cancer. We know that people don’t personalise the harms of smoking and don’t understand what’s happening in their bodies. This will show them.”

Of course, quitting smoking is no easy task and estimates say that one out of every five smokers who tries to quit, relapses within just one day. The new DoH adverts will hopefully hit home with smokers though and show the awful harm that cigarettes do to the human body.  To support them, smokers are currently being encouraged to collect a free ‘Quit Kit’ from any local participating pharmacy.
Together with support from surrounding friends and family, as well as the Quit Kit and smoking cessation medication such as Champix, smokers will hopefully have enough tools in their armour to finally kick the habit in to touch!

Champix is a prescription medication that can be obtained from Medical Specialists following an online consultation with one of our GMC registered doctors. The medication works out at just £75.00 per pack. Champix mimics the effect of nicotine on the body, reducing the urge to smoke and relieving withdrawal symptoms. It can also decrease the enjoyment you experience of smoking if you are still smoking whilst on the treatment.