Smoking statistics and electronic cigarettes

March 14 was 'No Smoking Day' in Great Britain. Now in its 29th year, the No Smoking Day health campaign recently merged with the British Heart Foundation. The smoking habit has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, and strokes; for pregnant women it causes premature and low birth-weight babies. Tobacco is also linked to around three-quarters of all cases of mouth cancer, and cigarettes cause tooth staining and worsen gum disease. Data collected by the General Household Survey (GHS) and General Lifestyle Survey (GLF) in Britain show that in 2010, 20% of the adult population of Britain were cigarette smokers compared with 45% in 1974.



British actress Kate Beckinsale has been addicted to cigarettes since her teen years. Left, Beckinsale takes a drag in Los Angeles last month. Right, Kate is photographed smoking in 2009...while wearing workout clothes! In the United States recent smoking statistics reveal that 20.6% of the population smokes, including 4 million young people. A study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute states that if everyone had quit smoking in 1964, when the American Surgeon General first warned of the dangers of smoking cigarettes, 2.5 million lung cancer deaths could have been avoided. It says that higher taxes, education and awareness campaigns, and limits on selling cigarettes to kids have helped save 800,000 lives.

Electronic cigarettes are an alternative to these cancer sticks. They are tobacco less, and when a smoker inhales and exhales on an electronic cigarette, it releases a high volume of nicotine vapor which gives them the feel of smoking a normal cigarette. There are several brands in the electronic cigarettes market: NICOmate, Nicolite, V2 Cigs, etc. In Britain, Freedom electronic cigarettes rule. Freedoms do not produce tar, carbon monoxide or thousands of chemicals that smoking tobacco creates. They do not produce second hand smoke or a bad odour and are, therefore, a more sociably acceptable alternative. Maybe Kate Beckinsale should start smoking electronic cigarettes?

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Chewing gum science research

Chewing gum is a fun activity for kids, it lowers stress and improves memory, and we see lots of adults chewing gum to battle nerves, like sports players at big games. David DiSalvo, science and technology writer for Forbes magazine, lists all the science research into the chewing gum habit:

Studies like this one out of Cardiff University in the UK take a comprehensive view of gum’s potential across multiple areas: learning, mood, memory and intelligence. The findings in this case were that both alertness and intellectual performance were increased in gum-chewing subjects.

Other studies, like the one highlighted in this New Scientist article, have found that some aspects of memory seem to be improved by chewing gum, particularly immediate and delayed word recall, while others are not. An especially significant 2011 study, reported on by Live Science, found that chewing gum before taking a test improved performance, but chewing gum throughout the test did not.

This 2009 study, for instance, found that under laboratory conditions chewing gum resulted in reduced cortisol levels and a reduction in overall anxiety. Studies like this one conducted in Tokyo suggest that prolonged gum chewing activates part of the brain (the ventral part of the prefrontal cortex) that in turns sets off a cascade of effects resulting in fewer feelings of depression.

It's not all good news. Dr Jessica Wu, dermatologist and author of "Feed Your Face", tells 9News that chewing gum every day could be bad for your skin: "Over time, your jaw muscles build up, they get bulky and that contributes to a jowly look. Not only that, but over time, chewing gum can also contribute to wrinkles above your upper lip. Instead, pop a mint. If you can't stand the thought of giving up your gum, at least only chew half the stick and chew it for a few minutes."


In the April 2012 issue of Harper's Bazaar, cute Mila Kunis wearing a Chanel Spring 2012 RTW high-neck dress and Louis Vuitton Spring 2012 strappy mules, blows some gum.

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Tax the sugar addiction

Cute Sarah Hyland from the show Modern Family drinking a can of Arizona Half & Half, which combines half iced tea and half lemonade, and contains more than 50 calories. Each day, the average American adult consumes nearly 22 teaspoons (90 grams) of added sugars, from which they get 355 calories, well above health guidelines. Caloric sweeteners in beverages are a key source of excess calories. New American dietary guidelines recommend drinking water instead of sugary drinks. According to the National Policy and Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity, one third of US children are either overweight or obese, in part because they consume too many sugar-sweetened beverages. The more they drink the greater their addiction to the sweet taste, which continues into their adult years and causes obesity with all its health risks.

33 American states use the power of taxation to increase the cost of this addiction. An article in the Tennessean, Sugar under attack in obesity fight, examines the sugar addiction epidemic in the southern US states:

These days, sugar — more than fat or lack of exercise — is drawing debate in the nation’s obesity epidemic. As researchers explore the possibility of sugar as an addictive substance, label-reading consumers are finding it packed into foods they never even suspected.

But in the South, the issue of sugar has special resonance. In Southern cuisine, sucrose — or table sugar — is used in large quantities in home cooking. Order an iced tea in one of Tennessee’s famed meat-and-three restaurants, and the server assumes it’s sweet until told otherwise. A Tennessee bill that would have imposed a 1-cent-per-ounce state tax on producers or importers of sugar-sweetened beverages stalled last year. A similar federal proposal in 2009 went nowhere but occasionally comes up in health-care discussions.

Tennessee ranks among the highest states for diabetes prevalence — nearly 11 percent of the population in 2010, compared with 6.5 percent nationally, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures show. It ranks fourth highest for overall obesity and sixth for childhood obesity. Many don’t understand how much they’re consuming, said Kelly Shinton, a registered dietitian affiliated with Baptist Hospital. It’s why she starts each consultation with gathering a one- to three-day food journal from patients. “I can’t tell you how many times I see they have trouble with sweets,” Shinton said. “I try to get them to fill those cravings with fresh fruit and work their way out of candy and sugar. Some people can have it in moderation, and some people just can’t.”

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