The dangers of starting to smoke

A small-scale study carried out by the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis is reporting that people new to smoking are damaging their health at the genetic level as early as 15 minutes into their new smoking habit. Highlighting the fact that worldwide 3000 lives are lost each day to lung cancer, the report published in Chemical Research in Toxicology shows that cancer-causing chemicals found in cigarettes called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) begin to damage DNA between 15 to 30 minutes after the first inhalation of smoke.

This salutary piece of research reinforces that it is never too early to quit smoking and provides another useful motivational fact to give to those smoking clients and friends who waver over whether to quit or not.

Zhong Y, Carmella SG, Upadhyaya P, Hochalter JB, Rauch D, Oliver A, Jensen J, Hatsukami D, Wang J, Zimmerman C and Hecht SS (2010) Immediate Consequences of Cigarette Smoking: Rapid Formation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Diol Epoxides Chemical research in Toxicology Dec 27. (Epub ahead of print)

Check the abstract here at PubMed 

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