Tag: cigarettes

Drinking Water, Losing Weight | NutritionFacts.org

[ad_1]

A few times a day, drink two cups of cold water on an empty stomach for weight loss.

After drinking two cups (half a liter) of water, you can get a surge of the adrenal hormone noradrenaline in your bloodstream, as if you had just smoked a few cigarettes or had a few cups of coffee, boosting your metabolic rate up to 30 percent within an hour, as shown below and at 0:22 in my video Optimizing Water Intake to Lose Weight. When put to the test in randomized controlled trials, that appeared to accelerate weight loss by 44 percent, making drinking water the safest, simplest, and cheapest way to boost your metabolism.

Now, this entire strategy may fail if you’re on a beta-blocker drug. (Beta blockers are typically prescribed for heart conditions or high blood pressure and tend to end with the letters lol, such as atenolol, nadolol, or propranolol, sold as Tenormin, Corgard, or Inderal, respectively.) So, for example, as you can see below and at 0:59 in my video, if you give people the beta-blocker drug metoprolol (sold as Lopressor) before they drink their two cups (480 mL) of water, the metabolic boost is effectively prevented. This makes sense since the “beta” being blocked by beta blockers are the beta receptors triggered by noradrenaline. Otherwise, drinking water should work. But what’s the best dose, type, temperature, and timing?

Just a single cup (240 mL) of water may be sufficient to rev up the noradrenaline nerves, but additional benefit is seen with drinking two or more cups (480 mL). A note of caution: One should never drink more than about three cups (710 mL) in an hour, since that starts to exceed the amount of fluid your kidneys can handle. If you have heart or kidney failure, your physician may not want you to drink extra water at all, but even with healthy kidneys, any more than three cups of water an hour can start to critically dilute the electrolytes in your brain with potentially critical consequences. (In How Not to Diet, I talk about a devastating, harrowing experience I had in the hospital as an intern. A patient drank himself to death—with water. He suffered from a neurological condition that causes pathological thirst. I knew enough to order his liquids to be restricted and have his sink shut off, but I didn’t think to turn off his toilet.)

Getting back to it. What kind of water are we talking about? Does it have to be plain, regular water? It shouldn’t matter, right? Isn’t water just water whether it’s flavored or sweetened in a diet drink? Actually, it does matter. When trying to prevent fainting before blood donation, drinking something like juice doesn’t work as well as plain water. When trying to keep people from getting dizzy when they stand up, water works, but the same amount of water with salt added doesn’t, as seen below and at 2:40 in my video. What’s going on?

We used to think the trigger was stomach distention. When we eat, our body shifts blood flow to our digestive tract, in part by releasing noradrenaline to pull in blood from our limbs. This has been called the gastrovascular reflex. So, drinking water was thought to be a zero-calorie way of stretching our stomachs. But, instead, if we drink two cups (480 mL) of saline (basically salt water), the metabolic boost vanishes, so stomach expansion can’t explain the water effect.

We now realize our body appears to detect osmolarity, the concentration of stuff within a liquid. When liquids of different concentrations were covertly slipped into people’s stomachs via feeding tubes, detection of plain water versus another liquid was demonstrated by monitoring sweat production, which is a proxy for noradrenaline release. It may be a spinal reflex, as it’s preserved in people who are quadriplegic, or picked up by the liver, as we see less noradrenaline release in liver transplant patients (who’ve had their liver nerves severed). Whichever the pathway, our body can tell. Thought we only had five senses? The current count is upwards of 33.

In my Daily Dozen recommendation, I rank certain teas as among the healthiest beverages. After all, they have all the water of water with an antioxidant bonus. But, from a weight-loss perspective, plain water may have an edge. That may explain the studies that found that overweight and obese individuals randomized to replace diet beverages with water lost significantly more weight. This was chalked up to getting rid of all those artificial sweeteners, but, instead, it may be that the diet drinks were too concentrated to offer the same water-induced metabolic boost. As you can see below and at 4:29 in my video, diet soda, like tea, has about ten times the concentration of dissolved substances compared to tap water. So, plain water on an empty stomach may be the best.

Does the temperature of the water matter? In a journal published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, an engineering professor proposed that the “secret” of a raw food diet for weight loss was the temperature at which the food was served. “Raw food, by its very nature, is consumed at room temperature or lower.” To bring two cups (480 mL) of room-temperature water up to body temperature, he calculated the body would have to dip into its fat stores and use up 6,000 calories. Just do the math, he says: A calorie is defined as the amount of energy required to raise one gram of water one degree Celsius. So, since two cups of water are about 500 grams and the difference between room temp and body temp is about a dozen degrees Celsius, it’s about 500 x 12 = 6,000 calories needed.

Do you see the mistake? In nutrition, a “calorie” is actually a kilocalorie, a thousand times bigger than the same word used in the rest of the sciences. Confusing, right? Still, I’m shocked that the paper was even published.

So, drinking two cups of room-temperature water actually takes only 6 calories to warm up, not 6,000. Now, if you were a hummingbird drinking four times your body weight in chilly nectar, you could burn up to 2 percent of your energy reserves warming it up, but it doesn’t make as much of a difference for us.

What about really cold water, though? A letter called “The Ice Diet” published in the Annals of Internal Medicine estimated that eating about a quart (1 L) of ice—like a gigantic snow cone without any syrup—could rob our body of more than 150 calories, which is the “same amount of energy as the calorie expenditure in running 1 mile.” It’s not like you directly burn fat to warm up the water, though. Your body just corrals more of the waste heat you normally give off by constricting blood flow to your skin. How does it do that? Noradrenaline.

If you compare drinking body-temperature water, room-temperature water, and cold water, there’s only a significant constriction in blood flow to the skin after the room-temperature water and the cold water, as seen below and at 6:39 in my video.

What’s more, as you can see here and at 6:45 in the video, neither the warm nor tepid water could boost metabolic rate as much as cold (fridge temperature) water. Our body does end up burning off more calories when we drink our water cold (at least indirectly).

So, two cups of cold water on an empty stomach a few times a day. Does it matter when? Yes, watch my Evidence-Based Weight Loss lecture to see how you can add the benefit of negative-calorie preloading by drinking that water right before your meals.

Too good to be true? No. Check out my other three videos on water and weight loss in the related posts below.

[ad_2]

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

Source link

November 7, 2024
Vaping Could Have This Effect On Men

[ad_1]

While it is popular, easy to use and seen everywhere, vaping could have this effect on men.

It is seen everywhere and is viewed as a much easier option than smoking. Indulging in cigarettes, cigars and joints in general public spaces have been banned since the early 2000s. Prior to the ban it was a Wild West. Up until the late 80s smoking was permitted at work, hospitals, grocery stories, schools, bars, restaurants, and planes. When it began being banned from smoking inside, smoking decreased. After the ban, vaping technology emerged and went public in 2003. By 2011 about 7 million vaped globally, with over 82 million vaping in 2021. The number has only reason. When cannabis become legal, vaping marijuana become popular and is in a tight race with smoking and gummies for ways people consume. But there is a warning, vaping could have this effect on men…erectile dysfunction.

RELATED: Is Your Vaping Device Leaching Heavy Metals Into Your Lungs?

While they have lower levels of chemicals, vapes may still damage endothelial cells. It may cause oxidative stress on the endothelial cells lining blood vessels. This can affect nitric oxide (NO) levels and their signaling in the body. This can be an issue as sufficient NO is necessary to produce an erection.

Photo by Dmitry_Tishchenko/Getty Images

One study suggests men who vape nicotine are twice as likely to experience erectile dysfunction when compared to men who don’t vape. And cannabinoid receptors at the level of both the brain and penis may negatively impact erectile function.

The first study, published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, looked into deeper understanding of vaping and sexual health regarding men. They analyzed self-reported data from over 13,000 men over the age of 20. Among the findings: Men who used e-cigarettes were found to be 2.2 times more likely to have erectile dysfunction.

Some caveats in the study include that the data was self-reported, with there being the possibility of bias. Another thing to be mindful of is the fact that the survey didn’t ask any questions on whether or not the men were taking medications which increased the risks of erectile dysfunction, like antidepressants.

RELATED: Science Says Medical Marijuana Improves Quality Of Life

Nicotine has long been linked with a variety of sexual dysfunctions, including erectile dysfunction and decreased arousal. Researchers believe this link exists due to smoking and the damage it imparts on circulation, which can also increase the odds of heart disease and strokes. When circulation is impacted, it makes it more difficult for erections to occur naturally.

Cannabis has long been used as an aphrodisiac, light use can relax the body and increase sensational. But, some research has shown heavy consumption may cause problems. So it may be important not only how much you consume but how you consume. If you have issues, talk to a health professional.

[ad_2]

Amy Hansen

Source link

September 11, 2024
Obesity and a Toxic Food Environment | NutritionFacts.org

[ad_1]

Implausible explanations for the obesity epidemic serve the needs of food manufacturers and marketers more than public health and an interest in truth.

When it comes to uncovering the root causes of the obesity epidemic, there appears to be manufactured confusion, “with major studies reasserting that the causes of obesity are ‘extremely complex’ and ‘fiendishly hard to untangle,’” but having just reviewed the literature, it doesn’t seem like much of a mystery to me.

It’s the food.

Attempts at obfuscation—rolling out hosts of “implausible explanations,” like sedentary lifestyles or lack of self-discipline—cater to food manufacturers and marketers more than the public’s health and our interest in the truth. “When asked about the role of restaurants in contributing to the obesity problem, Steven Anderson, president of the National Restaurant Association stated, “Just because we have electricity doesn’t mean you have to electrocute yourself.” Yes, but Big Food is effectively attaching electrodes to shock and awe the reward centers in our brains to undermine our self-control.

It is hard to eat healthfully against the headwind of such strong evolutionary forces. No matter what our level of nutrition knowledge, in the face of pepperoni pizza, “our genes scream, ‘Eat it now!’” Anyone who doubts the power of basic biological drives should see how long they can go without blinking or breathing. Any conscious decision to hold your breath is soon overcome by the compulsion to breathe. In medicine, shortness of breath is sometimes even referred to as “air hunger.” The battle of the bulge is a battle against biology, so obesity is not some moral failing. It’s not gluttony or sloth. It is a natural, “normal response, by normal people, to an abnormal situation”—the unnatural ubiquity of calorie-dense, sugary, and fatty foods.

The sea of excess calories we are now floating in (and some of us are drowning in) has been referred to as a “toxic food environment.” This helps direct focus away from the individual and towards the societal forces at work, such as the fact that the average child is blasted with 10,000 commercials for food a year. Or maybe I should say ads for pseudo food, as 95 percent are for “candy, fast food, soft drinks [aka liquid candy], and sugared cereals [aka breakfast candy].”

Wait a second, though. If weight gain is just a natural reaction to the easy availability of mountains of cheap, yummy calories, then why isn’t everyone fat? As you can see below and at 2:41 in my video The Role of the Toxic Food Environment in the Obesity Epidemic, in a certain sense, most everyone is. It’s been estimated that more than 90 percent of American adults are “overfat,” defined as having “excess body fat sufficient to impair health.” This can occur even “in those who are normal-weight and non-obese, often due to excess abdominal fat.

However, even if you look just at the numbers on the scale, being overweight is the norm. If you look at the bell curve and input the latest data, more than 70 percent of us are overweight. A little less than one-third of us is normal weight, on one side of the curve, and more than a third is on the other side, so overweight that we’re obese. You can see in the graph below and at 3:20 in my video.

If the food is to blame, though, why doesn’t everyone get fat? That’s like asking if cigarettes are really to blame, why don’t all smokers get lung cancer? This is where genetic predispositions and other exposures can weigh in to tip the scales. Different people are born with a different susceptibility to cancer, but that doesn’t mean smoking doesn’t play a critical role in exploding whatever inherent risk you have. It’s the same with obesity and our toxic food environment. It’s like the firearm analogy: Genes may load the gun, but diet pulls the trigger. We can try to switch the safety back on with smoking cessation and a healthier diet.

What happened when two dozen study participants were given the same number of excess calories? They all gained weight, but some gained more than others. Overfeeding the same 1,000 calories a day, 6 days a week for 100 days, caused weight gains ranging from about 9 pounds up to 29 pounds. The same 84,000 extra calories caused different amounts of weight gain. Some people are just more genetically susceptible. The reason we suspect genetics is that the 24 people in the study were 12 sets of identical twins, and the variation in weight gain between each of them was about a third less. As you can see in the graph below and at 4:41 in my video, a similar study with weight loss from exercise found a similar result. So, yes, genetics play a role, but that just means some people have to work harder than others. Ideally, inheriting a predisposition for extra weight gain shouldn’t give a reason for resignation, but rather motivation to put in the extra effort to unseal your fate.

Advances in processing and packaging, combined with government policies and food subsidy handouts that fostered cheap inputs for the “food industrial complex,” led to a glut of ready-to-eat, ready-to-heat, ready-to-drink hyperpalatable, hyperprofitable products. To help assuage impatient investors, marketing became even more pervasive and persuasive. All these factors conspired to create unfettered access to copious, convenient, low-cost, high-calorie foods often willfully engineered with chemical additives to make them hyperstimulatingly sweet or savory, yet only weakly satiating.

As we all sink deeper into a quicksand of calories, more and more mental energy is required to swim upstream against the constant “bombardment of advertising” and 24/7 panopticons of tempting treats. There’s so much food flooding the market now that much of it ends up in the trash. Food waste has progressively increased by about 50 percent since the 1970s. Perhaps better in the landfills, though, than filling up our stomachs. Too many of these cheap, fattening foods prioritize shelf life over human life.

But dead people don’t eat. Don’t food companies have a vested interest in keeping their consumers healthy? Such naiveté reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the system. A public company’s primary responsibility is to reap returns for its investors. “How else could we have tobacco companies, who are consummate marketers, continuing to produce products that kill one in two of their most loyal customers?” It’s not about customer satisfaction, but shareholder satisfaction. The customer always comes second.

Just as weight gain may be a perfectly natural reaction to an obesogenic food environment, governments and businesses are simply responding normally to the political and economic realities of our system. Can you think of a single major industry that would benefit from people eating more healthfully? “Certainly not the agriculture, food product, grocery, restaurant, diet, or drug industries,” wrote emeritus professor Marion Nestle in a Science editorial when she was chair of nutrition at New York University. “All flourish when people eat more, and all employ armies of lobbyists to discourage governments from doing anything to inhibit overeating.”

If part of the problem is cheap tasty convenience, is hard-to-find food that’s gross and expensive the solution? Or might there be a way to get the best of all worlds—easy, healthy, delicious, satisfying meals that help you lose weight? That’s the central question of my book How Not to Diet. Check it out for free at your local library.

This is it—the final video in this 11-part series. If you missed any of the others, see the related posts below.

[ad_2]

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

Source link

July 30, 2024
Processed Foods and Obesity | NutritionFacts.org

[ad_1]

The rise in the U.S. calorie supply responsible for the obesity epidemic wasn’t just about more food, but a different kind of food.

The rise in the number of calories provided by the food supply since the 1970s “is more than sufficient to explain the US epidemic of obesity.” Similar spikes in calorie surplus were noted in developed countries around the world in parallel with and presumed to be primarily responsible for, the expanding waistlines of their populations. After taking exports into account, by the year 2000, the United States was producing 3,900 calories for every man, woman, and child—nearly twice as much as many people need.

It wasn’t always this way. The number of calories in the food supply actually declined over the first half of the twentieth century and only started its upward climb to unprecedented heights in the 1970s. The drop in the first half of the century was attributed to the reduction in hard manual labor. The population had decreased energy needs, so they ate decreased energy diets. They didn’t need all the extra calories. But then the “energy balance ﬂipping point” occurred, when the “move less, stay lean phase” that existed throughout most of the century turned into the “eat more, gain weight phase” that plagues us to this day. So, what changed?

As I discuss in my video The Role of Processed Foods in the Obesity Epidemic, what happened in the 1970s was a revolution in the food industry. In the 1960s, most food was prepared and cooked in the home. The typical “married female, not working” spent hours a day cooking and cleaning up after meals. (The “married male, non-working spouse” averaged nine minutes, as you can see below and at 1:34 in my video.) But then a mixed-blessing transformation took place. Technological advances in food preservation and packaging enabled manufacturers to mass prepare and distribute food for ready consumption. The metamorphosis has been compared to what happened a century before with the mass production and supply of manufactured goods during the Industrial Revolution. But this time, they were just mass-producing food. Using new preservatives, artificial flavors, and techniques, such as deep freezing and vacuum packaging, food corporations could take advantage of economies of scale to mass produce “very durable, palatable, and ready-to-consume” edibles that offer “an enormous commercial advantage over fresh and perishable whole or minimally processed foods.”

Think ye of the Twinkie. With enough time and effort, “ambitious cooks” could create a cream-filled cake, but now they are available around every corner for less than a dollar. If every time someone wanted a Twinkie, they had to bake it themselves, they’d probably eat a lot fewer Twinkies. The packaged food sector is now a multitrillion-dollar industry.

Consider the humble potato. We’ve long been a nation of potato eaters, but we usually baked or boiled them. Anyone who’s made fries from scratch knows what a pain it is, with all the peeling, cutting, and splattering of oil. But with sophisticated machinations of mechanization, production became centralized and fries could be shipped at -40°F to any fast-food deep-fat fryer or frozen food section in the country to become “America’s favorite vegetable.” Nearly all the increase in potato consumption in recent decades has been in the form of french fries and potato chips.

Cigarette production offers a compelling parallel. Up until automated rolling machines were invented, cigarettes had to be rolled by hand. It took 50 workers to produce the same number of cigarettes a machine could make in a minute. The price plunged and production leapt into the billions. Cigarette smoking went from being “relatively uncommon” to being almost everywhere. In the 20th century, the average per capita cigarette consumption rose from 54 cigarettes a year to 4,345 cigarettes “just before the first landmark Surgeon General’s Report” in 1964. The average American went from smoking about one cigarette a week to half a pack a day.

Tobacco itself was just as addictive before and after mass marketing. What changed was cheap, easy access. French fries have always been tasty, but they went from being rare, even in restaurants, to being accessible around each and every corner (likely next to the gas station where you can get your Twinkies and cigarettes).

The first Twinkie dates back to 1930, though, and Ore-Ida started selling frozen french fries in the 1950s. There has to be more to the story than just technological innovation, and we’ll explore that next.

This explosion of processed junk was aided and abetted by Big Government at the behest of Big Food, which I explore in my video The Role of Taxpayer Subsidies in the Obesity Epidemic.

This is the fifth video in an 11-part series. Here are the first four:

Videos still to come are listed in the related videos below.

[ad_2]

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

Source link

July 9, 2024
Biden Administration Indefinitely Postpones Rule That Would Ban Menthol-Flavored Cigarettes – KXL

[ad_1]

FILE – Menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products are displayed at a store in San Francisco on May 17, 2018. Anti-smoking groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, over a long-awaited ban on menthol cigarettes, which has been idling at the White House for months. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration is again delaying a sweeping plan to ban menthol cigarettes.

The decision is certain to infuriate anti-smoking advocates but could avoid angering Black voters ahead of November elections.

Biden’s top health official said Friday the administration would take more time to consider feedback on the ban.

The announcement is another setback for the health officials at the Food and Drug Administration.

They drafted the ban and predicted it would prevent hundreds of thousands of smoking-related deaths.

More about:

[ad_2]

Grant McHill

Source link

April 26, 2024
Cheap Schemes and Big Tobacco Tricks: The Recipe for White Ash | High Times

[ad_1]

The white ash conversation has been positively insufferable. Heady bois and cannabis connoisseurs from coast to coast have been posting videos of their ash on Instagram for what feels like years now, indicating that they’re smoking top shelf product solely based on the color of the ash.

As much as I hate to disappoint, not only is white ash not an accurate metric of quality, it can be easily faked, gamed, cheated, duped and bamboozled using particular cultivation techniques, smoking methods, and as shown by recent court documents: adding small amounts of chalk to the rolling paper.

Recently unsealed documents from a years-long court battle between Republic Technologies LLC and BBK Tobacco & Foods, LLP revealed the ingredient lists used to make OCB Rolling Papers, including one particular additive that Big Tobacco has been familiar with for years which weed smokers might not be aware of: calcium carbonate.

Chalk-Infused Papers

Court documents from 2014 with regard to OCB rolling papers showed that varying amounts of calcium carbonate were used in some of their rolling papers, specifically the following: OCB No. 1 Single Wide, JOB Tribal King Size, OCB Slim, OCB Red 1 ¼, JOB Gold 1.25, OCB Organic Hemp 1-¼ and OCB Organic Hemp King Size Slim.

Snippet taken from court documents in the case of Republic Technologies LLC vs BBK Tobacco & Foods, LLP.

According to the National Institute of Health, calcium carbonate is an inorganic salt found all over the world in rocks like limestone as well as in the shells of many marine organisms and crustaceans. It’s the main ingredient in chalk, antacid medications like Tums, and as it turns out, it has also been used as a whitening pigment in cigarette rolling papers for decades. I was able to find three different patents, two of which date back to the 90’s, from tobacco companies including Phillip Morris all listing calcium carbonate as a way to make cigarette ash more “attractive.” A study by the Cooperation Centre for Scientific Research Relative to Tobacco describes how calcium carbonate can affect the color of ash:

“Generally, as the size of the precipitated calcium carbonate particle decreased, the ash became more cohesive. As the particle size decreased, the ash became slightly whiter until an optimal particle size was reached at about 0.3 microns,” the study said. “Further reductions in precipitated calcium carbonate size caused the ash to become grayer.”

Calcium carbonate is not necessarily a harmful substance to include in rolling papers, but the material safety data sheet of calcium carbonate does classify it as a potential respiratory tract irritant. A National Institute of Health study of autopsies in smokers versus non-smokers also found that the elemental components of calcium carbonate are found in the lungs of smokers but not in non-smokers, meaning it potentially leaves residual particles in the lungs.

“Potassium carbonate, sulfate, and chloride were not identified in any lung. The percentage of quartz was the same in both smoker and nonsmoker lungs,” the study said. “However, lungs from smokers contained a large percentage (average 23% of all particles) of particles composed of calcium, carbon, and oxygen (probably calcium carbonate) in all sample sites, whereas lungs from nonsmokers usually contained no such particles or only minute numbers (average 0.1%).”

Moving away from the ultra-sciency talk, cigarette companies have added calcium carbonate to their papers for years to make the ash whiter (please google Marlboro white ash ads and you’ll see this conversation goes all the way back to the 1950’s). Whether or not OCB papers are trying to gain the favor of weed smokers looking for white cannabis ash, I haven’t the foggiest idea, nor would I want to insinuate such a thing for fear of incurring a lawsuit I absolutely cannot afford. The point is that if a substance this common can be added to rolling papers, it would be very easy for an unscrupulous marketing team to use this knowledge to their advantage to sell more cannabis via using these particular papers in pre-rolls or to roll with when making smoking videos for the company Instagram, etc.

I Got a Fever, and the Only Prescription is More CalMag

It doesn’t stop there. I’ve been told by growers that you can also add greater concentrations of CalMag to flowering cannabis plants to achieve the white ash effect, which would make sense because CalMag is, somewhat redundantly, a mixture of calcium and magnesium. Calcium carbonate concentration is also, as far as I know, not included on any cannabis lab test COA, so there’s no concrete way for the consumer to tell if this method was utilized in the grow room. Again, not necessarily a harmful practice as far as I know but also not an accurate measure of quality.

You can also achieve the white ash effect by rolling and smoking the joint in a particular way, which I’ll describe for you now in an effort to illustrate that you can absolutely, positively fake this shit for Instagram: Roll a full eighth into a joint as tightly as possible without suffocating it (see Doja Pak rolling tutorial from First Smoke of the Day for further reference). Now go buy yourself one of those mini torches that crack smokers use to heat up their pipes, the sketchier looking the better. Torch the end of your joint evenly and slowly. If it catches fire, gently blow it out and continue torching for a minute or two until you have a nice even cherry. Now you’re gonna want to hold the joint upside down, very gently so that the smoke drifts upwards through your hands. Take a long, slow hit and return the joint to the upside down position. Rinse and repeat, torching more if necessary until you have a nice white ash pile. Take your picture, post it to Instagram and receive a well-deserved pat on the back from your CEO.

Granted, you need at least somewhat decent weed to achieve this effect even with the described method above. I will also fully admit I have never smoked a joint that burned completely black which I would describe as quality weed. The point I’m trying to make here is there are well-known schemes afoot to fool you into thinking you’re smoking good weed when that is not necessarily the case. Some people have purported that white ash is an indicator the cannabis was dried and cured properly, which has some truth to it because the moisture content of the flower needs to be within an ideal range to achieve a proper burn, but all the white ash really means is that the weed has burned completely, a process known as “carbonization.” An excerpt from “Whiteness of Cigarette Ash” written by Isao Kanai in 1959 (again, please note the date) explains further:

“The whiteness of cigarette ash plays an important role to the burning quality of cigarettes, and it is considered to be related with the degree of carbonization of organic materials, the combustion-zone temperature of cigarettes, and other complicated ‘combustion phenomena’ of Cigarettes,” the report said.

A cursory Google search will also populate about 50 different explanations from various tobacco clubs and tobacco companies explaining that white ash is related to combustibility and levels of calcium and magnesium in the soil the tobacco was grown in. The same can be said for cannabis.

Fire is in the Eye of the Beholder

So where does that leave us? Well, here’s where it’s gonna get a little subjective on my part. Quality cannabis ultimately comes down to user experience and user preference. There are certain markers that may suggest a particular batch of cannabis can be considered a quality product, but it’s a multi-faceted conversation. There is no single metric that can tell you if flower is good. It comes down to several key factors including, but not limited to: appearance, ash color, density, taste, smokability, cultivation methods (this is a lesser point but while I’m on the subject, the living soil versus salt-nutrients conversation is equally as pointless as the ash conversation), plant genetics, a proper dry and cure cycle and in my opinion the most important factor: effects. Individual microbiome, how one person’s body reacts to cannabis versus another’s, also plays a huge role.

What I will say, and I’m shamelessly stealing this point from our fearless leader Jon Cappetta, is that a better ash-related metric for quality weed is how the ash stacks up on itself (a metric also stolen from age-old tobacco-funded studies, I might add). If you can smoke most of the joint without the ash falling off (infused products don’t count), it means there’s a lot of resin in the flower causing it to stick together. If the ash is speckled or white on top of that, all the better. Oil ring to boot? Fugedaboutit.

There’s a certain threshold I think we can all agree on that flower has to reach to cross over from bad to mids but past that threshold, as we’ve all witnessed, we all start to argue as a community about mids versus fire and the conversation ultimately devolves into silly, unimportant metrics like “whose ash is whiter.” I think in general the key here is just awareness of what we’re consuming, and the knowledge that our own personal experience with the plant is all that really matters at the end of the day. Don’t let flashy Instagram videos or age-old Big Tobacco schemes fool you into consuming a particular brand or strain. Smoke what feels good to YOU and spread awareness wherever you can so we as a community can properly identify true fire. Past that, I only ask that we all stop arguing online about white ash because it makes the cannabis community look like a babbling gang of rabid hyenas.

[ad_2]

Patrick Maravelias

Source link

February 29, 2024

British American Tobacco Swings to Pretax Loss on U.S. Cigarette Write-Down — Update

[ad_1]

By Joe Hoppe

British American Tobacco said it swung to a pretax loss, driven by a previously reported write-down of its U.S. cigarette brands, but backed forecasts for growth in 2024.

The FTSE 100 cigarette maker–which houses the Kent, Dunhill and Lucky Strike brands–said pretax loss for 2023 was 17.06 billion pounds ($21.54 billion) compared with a profit of GBP9.32 billion a year prior. It said the swing was largely driven by an impairment of GBP27.6 billion. Of the impairment, GBP27.3 billion relates to pressure on some of its traditional cigarette brands in the U.S., as it shifts focus to smokeless products, it said.

BAT said in early December that its performance in the U.S. had been hindered by smokers switching to cheaper, nonpremium brands and a rise in illegal disposable vapes. The brands being written down included Newport, Pall Mall, Camel and Natural American Spirit, a company spokesperson said at the time.

Adjusted profit from operations edged up to GBP12.465 billion from GBP12.41 billion in 2022. Despite the growth, it skirted under a company-provided consensus forecast of an adjusted operating profit of GBP12.595 billion.

New categories revenue rose to GBP3.35 billion from GBP2.89 billion, missing a forecast of GBP3.46 billion, according to company-provided consensus.

Revenue was GBP27.28 billion compared with GBP27.66 billion, dragged by the sale of its businesses in Russia and Belarus, foreign-exchange pressures and lower cigarette volumes, and partially offset by the increased new categories revenue. Revenue was forecast at GBP27.60 billion, according to consensus provided by the company.

BAT said global tobacco industry volume is expected to decline around 3% in 2024, and it backed prior guidance for low single digit organic revenue and adjusted operating profit growth for the year.

The company said it will invest this year to strengthen its U.S. business, accelerate innovation and enhance its capabilities, which it said would weight its performance toward the second half.

“Thereafter, we will progressively build to deliver 3-5% organic revenue, and mid-single digit adjusted organic profit from operations growth by 2026 on a constant currency basis. We are committed to continuing to reward shareholders with strong cash returns throughout this period,” Chief Executive Tadeu Marroco said.

The board declared a dividend of 235.52 pence a share, up from 230.9 pence.

Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com

[ad_2]

Source link

February 7, 2024

Muscle Shrinkage and Bone Loss on Keto Diets? | NutritionFacts.org

[ad_1]

Ketogenic diets have been found to undermine exercise efforts and lead to muscle shrinkage and bone loss.

An official International Society of Sports Nutrition position paper covering keto diets notes the “ergolytic effect” of keto diets on both high- and low-intensity workouts. Ergolytic is the opposite of ergogenic. Ergogenic means performance-boosting, whereas ergolytic means performance-impairing.

For nonathletes, ketosis may also undermine exercise efforts. Ketosis was correlated with increased feelings of “perceived exercise effort” and “also significantly correlated to feelings of ‘fatigue’ and to ‘total mood disturbance,’” during physical activity. “Together, these data suggest that the ability and desire to maintain sustained exercise might be adversely impacted in individuals adhering to ketogenic diets for weight loss.”

You may recall that I’ve previously discussed that shrinkage of measured muscle mass among CrossFit trainees has been reported. So, a ketogenic diet may not just blunt the performance of endurance athletes, but their strength training as well. As I discuss in my video Keto Diets: Muscle Growth and Bone Density, study participants performed eight weeks of the battery of standard upper and lower body training protocols, like bench presses, pull-ups, squats, and deadlifts, and there was no surprise. You boost muscle mass—unless you’re on a keto diet, in which case there was no significant change in muscle mass after all that effort. Those randomized to a non-ketogenic diet added about three pounds of muscle mass, whereas the same amount of weight lifting on the keto diet tended to subtract muscle mass by about 3.5 ounces on average. How else could you do eight weeks of weight training and not gain a single ounce of muscle on a ketogenic diet? Even keto diet advocates call bodybuilding on a ketogenic diet an “oxymoron.”

What about bone loss? Sadly, bone fractures are one of the side effects that disproportionately plague children placed on ketogenic diets, along with slowed growth and kidney stones. Ketogenic diets may cause a steady rate of bone loss as measured in the spine, presumed to be because ketones are acidic, so keto diets can put people in what’s called a “chronic acidotic state.”

Some of the case reports of children on keto diets are truly heart-wrenching. One nine-year-old girl seemed to get it all, including osteoporosis, bone fractures, and kidney stones, then she got pancreatitis and died. Pancreatitis can be triggered by having too much fat in your blood. As you can see in the graph below and at 2:48 in my video, a single high-fat meal can cause a quintupling of the spike in triglycerides in your bloodstream within hours of consumption, which can put you at risk for inflammation of the pancreas.

The young girl had a rare genetic disorder called glucose transporter deficiency syndrome. She was born with a defect in ferrying blood sugar into her brain. That can result in daily seizures starting in infancy, but a ketogenic diet can be used as a way to sneak fuel into the brain, which makes a keto diet a godsend for the 1 in 90,000 families stricken with this disorder.

As with anything in medicine, it’s all about risks versus benefits. As many as 30 percent of patients with epilepsy don’t respond to anti-seizure drugs. Unfortunately, the alternatives aren’t pretty and can include brain surgery that implants deep electrodes through the skull or even removes a lobe of your brain. This can obviously lead to serious side effects, but so can having seizures every day. If a ketogenic diet can help with seizures, the pros can far outweigh the cons. For those just choosing a diet to lose weight, though, the cost-benefit analysis would really seem to go the other way. Thankfully, you don’t need to mortgage your long-term health for short-term weight loss. We can get the best of both worlds by choosing a healthy diet, as I discussed in my video Flashback Friday: The Weight Loss Program That Got Better with Time.

Remember the study that showed the weight loss was nearly identical in those who had been told to eat the low-carb Atkins diet for a year and those told to eat the low-fat Ornish diet, as seen below and at 4:18 in my video? The authors concluded, “This supports the practice of recommending any diet that a patient will adhere to in order to lose weight.” That seems like terrible advice.

There are regimens out there like “The Last Chance Diet which consisted of a low-calorie liquid formula made from leftover byproducts from a slaughterhouse [that] was linked to approximately 60 deaths from cardiovascular-related events.” An ensuing failed lawsuit from one widower laid the precedent for the First Amendment protection for those who produce deadly diet books.

It’s possible to construct a healthy low-carb diet or an unhealthy low-fat one—a diet of cotton candy would be zero fat—but the health effects of a typical low-carb ketogenic diet like Atkins are vastly different from a low-fat plant-based diet like Ornish’s. As you can see in the graph below and at 5:26 in my video, they would have diametrically opposed effects on cardiovascular risk factors in theory, based on the fiber, saturated fat, and cholesterol contents of their representative meal plans.

And when actually put to the test, low-carb diets were found to impair artery function. Over time, blood flow to the heart muscle itself is improved on an Ornish-style diet and diminished on a low-carb one, as shown below and at 5:44 in my video. Heart disease tends to progress on typical weight-loss diets and actively worsens on low-carb diets, but it may be reversed by an Ornish-style diet. Given that heart disease is the number one killer of men and women, “recommending any diet that a patient will adhere to in order to lose weight” seems irresponsible. Why not tell people to smoke? Cigarettes can cause weight loss, too, as can tuberculosis and a meth habit. The goal of weight loss is not to lighten the load for your pallbearers.

For more on keto diets, see my videos on the topic. Interested in enhancing athletic performance? Check out the related videos below.

[ad_2]

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM

Source link

December 12, 2023
Cigarette Giant BAT Sees $31.5 Billion Write-Down on U.S. Brands

[ad_1]

Updated Dec. 6, 2023 5:14 am ET

British American Tobacco expects a one-off impairment of $31.5 billion this year due to pressure on some of its traditional cigarette brands in the U.S., as it shifts focus to smokeless products.

The FTSE 100 cigarette maker—which houses the Kent, Dunhill and Lucky Strike brands among its portfolio—said macroeconomic pressures on its traditional cigarette business performance in the U.S. and investments in its noncombustibles business would lead to an accounting noncash adjusting impairment charge of around GBP25 billion.

Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

[ad_2]

Source link

December 6, 2023
Report Finds Tobacco Industry Aware Of Harmful Effects Of Flicking Lit Cigarette Into Giant Trail Of Gasoline For Years

[ad_1]

BETHESDA, MD—According to a new report released Friday by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, the tobacco industry knew about the harmful effects of flicking a lit cigarette into a giant trail of gasoline for years, but chose to remain quiet. “For decades, Big Tobacco knew that tossing just one lit cigarette a day onto a puddle of gasoline could cause massively averse health risks, yet they deliberately concealed that knowledge,” said report coauthor Gregory Cordova, who accused the industry of conspiring as early as 1959 to bury evidence that using their products to ignite a pool of gasoline, causing an entire city block to explode could be detrimental to consumers’ health. “Internal documents show the tobacco lobby funded their own studies attempting to prove that setting a pool of gas on fire with a cigarette was not only safe, but good for you. They even advertised to children, creating ads that depicted Joe Camel saying, “Sayonara, suckers!” while tossing a cigarette over his shoulder into a room doused in gasoline.” At press time, the National Institutes of Health were questioning how long the processed food industry had known that cyanide capsules could be dissolved in sugary soft drinks.

Inspiring! Big Tobacco Execs Celebrate Teen Vaping With Epic PR Song

[ad_2]

Source link

June 9, 2023
Loneliness is an ‘epidemic’ that costs billions and leads to bad health outcomes and even death

[ad_1]

Loneliness is more than a bad feeling. It’s as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day and is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death, according to an advisory by the U.S. Surgeon General.

The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is greater than that of obesity and physical inactivity, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said in an 81-page report called “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation.”

Social isolation among older adults alone accounts for about $6.7 billion in excess Medicare spending a year, largely due to increased hospital and nursing facility spending, the report said.

Read: Depression, isolation, loss of purpose: Could retirement be bad for your mental health?

Loneliness and isolation also are connected with lower academic achievement and worse performance at work. In the U.S., stress-related absenteeism attributed to loneliness costs employers an estimated $154 billion annually, according to the report.

“Given the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation, we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis,” the report said. Still, no federal funding or programming will be provided to combat the issue.

Essentially, social connection is a significant predictor of longevity and better physical, cognitive, and mental health, while social isolation and loneliness are significant predictors of premature death and poor health, the report said.

Read: Americans are lonelier than ever—and that’s bad for your health

The Surgeon General’s advisory is intended as a public statement that calls the people’s attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed. Advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that require the nation’s immediate awareness and action, the report said.

“Each of us can start now, in our own lives, by strengthening our connections and relationships. Our individual relationships are an untapped resource—a source of healing hiding in plain sight. They can help us live healthier, more productive, and more fulfilled lives,” the report said. “Answer that phone call from a friend. Make time to share a meal. Listen without the distraction of your phone. Perform an act of service. Express yourself authentically. The keys to human connection are simple, but extraordinarily powerful.”

Americans have become less connected to houses of worship, community organizations and their own families and have reported an increase in feelings of loneliness. The number of single households has also doubled over the last 60 years.

About half of U.S. adults report experiencing loneliness, with some of the highest rates among young adults. People cut their circles of friends during the Covid-19 pandemic and reduced time spent with those friends, according to the report.

Read: ‘When we retire, we lose a lot.’ How to avoid retirement shock.

Americans spent about 20 minutes a day in person with friends in 2020, down from 60 minutes daily nearly two decades earlier. Among young people, ages 15 to 24, time spent in-person with friends has reduced by nearly 70% over almost two decades, from roughly 150 minutes per day in 2003 to 40 minutes per day in 2020, the report said.

Technology has made loneliness worse. People who used social media for two hours or more daily were more than twice as likely to report feeling socially isolated than those who used such technology for less than 30 minutes a day, according to the report.

Murthy called on technology companies, employers, community-based organizations, parents and individuals to tackle the problem.

“We are called to build a movement to mend the social fabric of our nation. It will take all of us…working together to destigmatize loneliness and change our cultural and policy response to it.

It will require reimagining the structures, policies, and programs that shape a community to best support the development of healthy relationships,” Murthy said.

[ad_2]

Source link

May 4, 2023
Notable & Quotable: In California, Marijuana Si, Smoking No – Medical Marijuana Program Connection
[ad_1]
Opinion

Commentary

Notable & Quotable

‘If signed into law, it would mean by 2073 people wanting to buy cigarettes would have to show ID to prove they are at least 67 years old.’
Original Author Link click here to read complete story..
[ad_2] MMP News Author
Source link
February 26, 2023
Murder of Vermont woman solved after more than 50 years using DNA found on a cigarette and the victim’s clothing | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

More than 50 years after Rita Curran’s roommate found her strangled to death in her room, police in Vermont say they have identified the killer using DNA found on a cigarette butt and Curran’s clothing.

Investigators identified William DeRoos, a man who lived in Curran’s Burlington apartment building, as the person responsible with the help of advances in DNA technology and genetic genealogy, police in Vermont’s most populous city announced Tuesday.

DeRoos died of a drug overdose in San Francisco in 1986, police said. The case is now closed.

On the night of the July 1971 killing, DeRoos, who lived with his wife two floors above Curran, had a fight with his spouse and left their apartment to “cool down,” according to a Burlington police investigation report.

Curran, 24, was later found dead, severely beaten after apparently having put up a “vicious struggle,” a detective wrote at the time. Investigators are now “unanimously certain” DeRoos was responsible, the report released Tuesday says.

But when investigators questioned DeRoos and his wife the next morning, the couple said they had been together all night and didn’t hear or see anything. After police left, DeRoos told his wife if they were questioned again, she should not admit that he had left the apartment “or they would go after him” because he had a criminal history, police said during a news conference Tuesday.

A break in the case finally came in 2014 when a DNA profile was extracted from a cigarette butt that had been found next to Curran’s body, Detective Lt. James Trieb said at the news conference. Though the profile was submitted to a national criminal database for DNA, he said, no matches were made. That meant the person with that DNA likely never had genetic material entered into the database, possibly because the person didn’t have a felony conviction.

In 2019, Trieb reopened the case and decided to take a new approach.

Instead of having a single detective work the cold case alone – the department’s usual strategy – he treated the crime as if it had just been committed, bringing in a team of detectives and expert technicians to review and discuss it, his investigation report says.

The team began retesting evidence, Trieb said, and decided to analyze the cigarette DNA using genetic genealogy – a process that uses DNA databases for genealogy research to identify possible family members of the person whose DNA is unmatched.

An outside genetic genealogy expert then concluded that the cigarette DNA had strong connections to relatives of DeRoos, both on the paternal and maternal sides.

“She was certain that it was William DeRoos” who put his DNA on the cigarette, the police report says.

Why your DNA may be solving cold cases

Investigators then found a living half-brother of DeRoos who was willing to provide a DNA sample, and that sample bolstered the conclusion that the cigarette DNA belonged to DeRoos, the report says.

Finally, investigators found that DNA left on Curran’s ripped house coat also matched the DNA on the cigarette butt, the report reads. Investigators re-interviewed his then-wife, who admitted that she had lied about DeRoos’ alibi.

At the news conference, acting Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad said the day was “filled with mixed emotions.”

“Ultimately, those emotions are ones of relief, of pride for me (and) for this department, but mostly of gratitude to a family that has been through an incredible ordeal for more than half a century,” he said.

[ad_2]

Source link

February 22, 2023
Most US adults support banning sales of all tobacco products, CDC survey says | CNN

[ad_1]

CNN
—

More than half of US adults support ending the sale of all tobacco products, according to a new study led by researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and nearly two-thirds said they support banning menthol cigarette sales.

The poll, published Thursday in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, included 6,455 US adults surveyed in 2021 – before the US Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

Although cigarette smoking has declined in recent decades, it remains the leading cause of preventable disease, disability and death in the US, where an estimated 30.8 million adults currently smoke.

Support for proposals to ban tobacco sales was lower among current tobacco users, according to the survey. More than a third of current smokers supported banning menthol cigarette sales, and more than a quarter supported banning all tobacco sales.

The FDA is still considering its proposed ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

“The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement when the proposal was announced. “Additionally, the proposed rules represent an important step to advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities.”

In the new study, researchers reported widespread support for a menthol ban across demographic groups.

“Our findings are generally consistent with previous research showing support for menthol cigarette sales prohibitions, including among population groups historically targeted by unjust marketing practices and with a high prevalence of menthol cigarette use (eg, non-Hispanic Black adults),” they wrote in the study.

Experts say menthol – the last flavor allowed in cigarettes – makes smoking easier to start and harder to quit. The additive can mask the harshness and irritation of tobacco, making cigarettes more appealing to young people and those who have never used tobacco products. It also enhances the effect of nicotine in the brain, making tobacco products even more addictive.

Research has shown that tobacco products, especially those with menthol, are disproportionately marketed to youth, racial and ethnic minorities, lower-income people and those who identify as LGBTQ+, all of whom are more likely to use these products and develop tobacco-related health problems.

“The science is clear: Menthol cigarettes have an adverse impact on public health and have no public health benefits as compared to non-menthol cigarettes,” American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown said in a statement last year. “They increase the likelihood and degree of addiction among youth smokers, elevating the number of premature deaths from tobacco use. Their removal from the market would have enormous benefits for public health in this country.”

One study published in 2021 estimated that a menthol cigarette ban in the US would result in a 15% reduction in smoking as early as 2026 and up to 650,000 lives saved within 40 years.

Many parts of the country have started moving in this direction. As of February 2022, at least 145 US communities prohibit the sale of menthol cigarettes and other flavored products. Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach, California, were the first cities to prohibit all tobacco sales.

The study authors say public support can continue to be an influential factor in the acceleration of policy adoption.

“These findings can inform federal, state, and local efforts to prohibit all tobacco product sales, including menthol cigarettes, reduce tobacco use and tobacco-related disparities, and advance health equity.”

[ad_2]

Source link

February 2, 2023
Altria Beats Earnings Estimates, Unveils $1 Billion Stock Buyback

[ad_1]

Marlboro maker

Altria

Group beat earnings and revenue estimates in the fourth quarter and announced a new $1 billion share buyback plan.

The cigarettes company reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.18 on revenue of $6.1 billion in the final three months of the year. Analysts expected EPS of $1.17 on sales of $5.15 billion in the quarter, according to FactSet data.

[ad_2]

Source link

February 1, 2023
EcoClear Products’ SmokeOut Spray Helps Facilities Save Money by Eliminating Smoke Odors

[ad_1]

Business facilities, like hotels, casinos and car dealerships need to find ways to combat the smell of third-hand smoke.

Press Release
–

Dec 27, 2022 08:00 EST

SARASOTA, Fla., December 27, 2022 (Newswire.com)
–
Cigarette smoke removal services, like thermal fogging and ozone treatments, can cost $200 to $600 for a single treatment, and it takes days to complete. This causes facilities like hotels and casinos, which are already short-staffed, to spend thousands of dollars each year to keep their buildings free of cigarette and tobacco smoke odors. EcoClear Products, a company dedicated to providing 100% safe alternatives in the Specialty Chemical industry, has created SmokeOut™, a ready-to-use spray that addresses this ongoing issue for businesses.

Formulated to eliminate the stubborn and unpleasant odors left behind by cigarettes, cigars and pipes, SmokeOut™ destroys smoke smells at their source, both in the air and on other porous surfaces, like fabrics. When used as directed on furniture, rugs, linens and pillows, for example, SmokeOut™ chemically alters, neutralizes and destroys offensive smoke and tobacco odors. If the source of the odor is not reintroduced into the room, the room will remain deodorized.

Third-hand smoke poses a potential health hazard to non-smokers, especially children. People become exposed to the chemicals in third-hand smoke when they touch contaminated surfaces or breathe in the gas third-hand smoke may release.

“Unlike other odor eliminators, which often just mask a scent, SmokeOut™ destroys odors at the molecular level,” said Christopher Stidd, founder of EcoClear Products. “Businesses can now rest easy knowing their facilities won’t face devaluation backlash due to unwanted lingering scents of smoke, and that they can continue to offer their guests a strong customer experience.”

EcoClear Products boasts safe, effective and harmless cleaning agents that use patented and proprietary compounds and processes. Its chemists have received Presidential Awards for “green” chemistry as a result of their extensive experience in pesticides, rodenticides and detergents and their passion for creating innovative offerings.

To learn more, visit http://www.ecoclearproducts.com/pro

About EcoClear Products

EcoClear Products, Inc. is a leading developer of specialty products, which include ecological cleaning, odor removal products, and pest control solutions. Based in Sarasota, Florida, and founded in 2013, EcoClear’s mission is to develop innovative and effective products safe for people, pets, and wildlife. EcoClear has been recognized for its commitment to advancements in sustainable chemistry and efficacy. For more information, visit www.ecoclearproducts.com/pro

Source: EcoClear Products

[ad_2]

Source link

December 27, 2022
11.3% of Middle and High Schoolers Use Tobacco Products, CDC Says

[ad_1]

Nov. 14, 2022 — More than 3 million middle and high school students said they used tobacco products in the last 30 days, the CDC reports.

That’s 11.3% of students surveyed. Overall, 16.5% of high school students and 4.5% of middle schoolers reported current tobacco use, the CDC said in its Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report.

The most commonly used products were e-cigarettes, followed by cigars, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, hookahs, nicotine pouches, heated tobacco products, and pipe tobacco. The findings come from the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which was conducted January 18, 2022, to May 31, 2022.

“Commercial tobacco product use continues to threaten the health of our nation’s youth, and disparities in youth tobacco product use persist,” Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said in a statement. “By addressing the factors that lead to youth tobacco product use and helping youth to quit, we can give our nation’s young people the best opportunity to live their healthiest lives.”

Broken down by groups, tobacco products had been used in the last 30 days by 12.3% of female students; 10.3% of males; 13.5% of non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Natives; 12.4% of Whites; 11.5% of Blacks; 11.1% of Hispanics or Latinos; and 3.1% of Asian students.

Tobacco use was reported by 16% who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual; 16.6% who identified as transgender; 18.3% who reported severe psychological distress; 12.5% with low family affluence; and 27.2% who reported getting mostly F grades.

Favors, marketing, and misperceptions of harm are major factors contributing to youths’ use of tobacco. Most youth who use tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, want to quit, the CDC’s statement said.

“Youth use of tobacco products – in any form – is unsafe,” said the report. “Such products contain nicotine, which is highly addictive and can harm the developing adolescent brain. Using nicotine during adolescence might also increase risk for future addiction to other drugs.”

The report said the ability to compare the 2022 survey findings to previous years is “limited” because of differences in data collection procedures.

[ad_2]

Source link

November 14, 2022
Low-Nicotine Cigarettes Won’t Leave Smokers Agitated, Study Finds

[ad_1]

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Nov. 4, 2022 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed limiting the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to minimally addictive levels, but there’s been concern that the drop in nicotine could exacerbate anxieties in smokers who might already battle mood issues.

However, a new study shows that while cigarettes with nicotine at 5% of the normal dose can help anxious or depressed smokers quit, they do so without adding to mood or anxiety problems that led them to smoke in the first place.

“There do not appear to be any concerning, unintended consequences of having to switch to very low nicotine cigarettes,” said lead researcher Jonathan Foulds, a professor of public health sciences and psychiatry at Penn State University School of Medicine.

“On the contrary, it appears that the result is that smokers feel less addicted to their cigarettes and more able to quit smoking when offered relatively brief assistance with follow-up appointments plus nicotine replacement therapy,” he said.

Smokers with mood and anxiety disorders showed no signs of “over-smoking” the very low-nicotine cigarettes, nor was there any sign that switching to them made their mental health worse, Foulds said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed limiting the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to minimally addictive levels. Doing so could not only lessen addiction, but also reduce exposure to toxic substances and increase the odds of quitting, Foulds said.

In 2019, the FDA authorized two lower-nicotine cigarettes made by 22nd Century Group, Inc. — Moonlight and Moonlight Menthol. These brands are in market testing and not generally available, Foulds said.

“It would be appropriate for the protection of public health to move forward with implementing such a regulation as soon as possible,” he said. “It is now over 50 years since it became clear that cigarettes are lethal and addictive when used as intended. It is time to take action to minimize the addictive part of cigarettes.”

Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and a volunteer medical spokesman for the American Lung Association, echoed that view.

“Lowering the amount of nicotine in cigarettes has been a public health tactic that we have strived for over the last two decades,” said Galiatsatos, who was part of the study. “Nicotine is the reason why people keep going back to cigarettes, knowing toxins are in there, knowing these carcinogens are in there, not because they want to create dire health situations for themselves.”

For the study, Foulds and his colleagues studied 188 smokers who had mood or anxiety disorders and didn’t want to quit. They were randomly assigned to smoke cigarettes with the usual amount of nicotine or those that had nicotine content reduced in stages over 18 weeks.

Over that time, researchers found no significant differences in mental health between the two groups. And those who were given reduced nicotine cigarettes were more likely to quit smoking than those whose smokes contained normal amounts of nicotine — 18% vs. 4%.

“It’s important to study people with mental health conditions, as they comprise about 25% of the population but smoke 40% of the cigarettes in the U.S.,” said Dr. Pamela Ling, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, who reviewed the findings.

She noted that people with mental health conditions die earlier than the general population, often of smoking-related disease.

Ling said it’s time to make low-nicotine cigarettes the only smokes available.

“This study should allay concerns that reduced nicotine cigarettes might worsen symptoms in people with mental health disorders,” Ling said. “It’s time for the FDA to take action to reduce nicotine in cigarettes to minimal levels. This study suggests that such action would help smokers quit, including those with mental health conditions.”

Ultimately, Galiatsatos said, politics, not health concerns, will decide if low-nicotine cigarettes will replace today’s cigarettes.

“If this was a battle simply over broccoli, we would have won,” he said. “It’s not. It makes a lot of money for a lot of individuals. But from a clinician standpoint, we need to take these opportunities to implement appropriate clinical guidelines to make these patients nonsmokers.”

The study was published online Nov. 2 in the journal PLOS ONE.

More information

For more on quitting smoking, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCES: Jonathan Foulds, PhD, professor, public health sciences and psychiatry, Penn State University, Hershey; Panagis Galiatsatos, MD, volunteer medical spokesman, American Lung Association, and assistant professor, medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Pamela Ling, MD, MPH, director, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco; PLOS ONE, Nov. 2, 2022, online

[ad_2]

Source link

November 4, 2022