It is widely known that smoking increases the risk of lung, mouth, and throat cancer, as well as cardiovascular disease, and is the primary cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is associated with breathing difficulties.
However, much less is said about the fact that tobacco smoke contains a mixture of carcinogens, has an adverse effect on basically the entire body, poses a serious risk for many diseases, and that there is growing scientific evidence to support this. – Dr. Péter Torzsa
The head of department points out that electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products also pose serious health risks, so the best decision is to quit smoking.
Research shows that smoking causes fundamental damage to the body, says Dr. Péter Torzsa, referring to one of the latest scientific findings. According to this, certain components of tobacco smoke directly damage cell DNA and reduce the function of a DNA repair protein called XPC, which is particularly dangerous: While healthy cells are unable to protect themselves from smoke damage, cancer cells become more resistant. In other words, smoking destroys healthy cells while promoting the development of cancer. Cigarette smoke can also activate a special cell death mechanism, causing particularly severe damage to the respiratory tract.
It is a lesser-known fact that smoking causes genetic damage to the DNA of egg cells and sperms, which increases the risk of miscarriage and birth defects. Most shockingly, if the grandmother is a smoker, even her grandchildren may have an increased risk of asthma and reduced lung function.
This is due to hereditary modifications that affect the functioning of certain genes without changing the DNA. The head of the department also mentions a revolutionary discovery: smoking causes permanent changes to the immune system. While the effects on the innate immune system quickly wear off, the consequences for the adaptive immune system – the immunity that can learn and remember – persist for years. This means that the effects of smoking on the immune system can be detected for a long time after a person has quit. Other studies have found a surprising link between smoking and the gut microbiome. Nicotine raises the pH level of the intestine, which favors certain bacteria and causes an imbalance. This may partly explain why smoking aggravates Crohn’s disease (inflammation of the intestines), while paradoxically alleviating ulcerative colitis (inflammation of the large intestine): Smoking increases inflammation and impairs intestinal wall function in Crohn’s disease, while nicotine can temporarily reduce inflammation of the colon mucosa in ulcerative colitis. Hungarian researchers have demonstrated for the first time how tobacco smoke contributes to the development of chronic pancreatitis.
Recent research has confirmed the negative effects of smoking in many other areas as well.
- Although nicotine improves cognitive performance in the short term – which explains its addictiveness – it has an adverse effect on attention and short-term memory.
- It has been found that women who smoke experience menopause 1-4 years earlier than non-smokers.
- Cigarette smoke makes the skin more vulnerable to aging and dermatological diseases: Smokers in their 40s may have as many wrinkles as non-smokers in their 60s.
- Research has confirmed that smoking increases the risk of hearing loss by 15 percent, and that the risk increases with the intensity of smoking.
- Smoking is responsible for approximately 50 percent of bladder cancer cases, as smoke promotes the growth and spread of cancer cells.
- Nicotine inhibits bone formation, impairs calcium absorption, and reduces sex hormone levels, which is why smokers’ bones lose mass faster and break more easily. As a result, the risk of hip fracture increases by 31 percent in women and 40 percent in men.
Éva Haiman
Translation: Judit Szabados-Dőtsch
Photo by Boglárka Zellei – Semmelweis University; illustration: Istock by Getty Images/Sophonnawit Inkaew
