Benefits of smoking

I think (and hope) that most people are well aware of the negative impact that smoking can have on your health. Your life expectancy drops by about 15 years, your risk of heart disease increases significantly and you become highly susceptible to several forms of cancer. So please; try not to fool yourself into thinking that these benefits somehow outweigh the health hazards. Because they don’t.

When I found out that there were actual health benefits to smoking cigarettes, I was surprised to say the least. You grow up, see the health warnings, get taught about them in school and then have them reiterated to you by your parents. In my country, boxes of cigarettes even come with health warnings on the front of them, so that I can be reminded every day that my habit (should I continue to entertain it), will most likely lead me towards an early death. So I suppose that in retrospect, the idea that smoking might actually carry some health benefits never even had the chance to cross my mind.

Benefits of smoking:

Please note that while some of these beneficial health effects have been observed, that often, the actual mechanism behind them remains undetermined.

Ulcerative Colitis

According to the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine (Fifth Edition, page 232), smoking decreases the risk of ulcerative colitis. In case you didn’t know, ulcerative colitis is a form of Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD). Basically, it’s a disease of the intestine that causes open sores and ulcers on your colon. Nice.

Kaposi’s Sarcoma

Smoking also seems to interfere with the development of Kaposi’s sarcoma. According to the fountain of knowledge that is Wikipedia, Kaposi’s sarcoma is a tumor that is caused by the cancer virus, Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8). Symptoms include raised legions on the skin.

Breast Cancer – BRCA gene

According to this article by Paul Recer (a Science journalist for the Associated Press), smoking might also interfere with the development of breast cancer amongst women carrying the BRCA gene. A BRCA mutation is a mutation that increases the risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer. The fact that smoking can actually interfere with the development of certain cancers absolutely baffled me at first.

Pre-eclampsia

Smoking also interferes with the development of Pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is a condition in which high blood pressure arises during pregnancy in association with high levels of protein in the urine. However, I think it’s pretty clear to everyone with a head on their shoulders that smoking during pregnancy isn’t exactly a good idea.

Atopic disorders

According to a 2001 study named “Does tobacco smoke prevent atopic disorders? A study of two generations of Swedish residents”, certain atopic disorders, such as allergic asthma are offset by smoking. Atopic disorders are allergies where the part of the body that is affected isn’t the part that is in contact with the allergen. The word atopic basically means “out of place”.

Uterine fibroids

Smoking has also been found to reduce the rates of Uterine fibroids. A uterine fibroid is a non-cancerous tumor (aka benign) that is found in females. These fibroids can grow and cause heavy and very painful menstruation and painful sexual intercourse.

Parkinson’s Disease

According to a 2006 study titled “Epidemiology of Parkinson’s disease” (de Lau LM, Breteler MM), smoking has consistently been found to be a protective factor when it comes to Parkinson’s disease. It is believed that this is because nicotine may act as a dopamine stimulant.

It is important to note that in many of these cases, it is believed that nicotine acts as an anti-inflammatory.

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