How Does Tobacco Affect The Body?

Used cigarette sticks

Tobacco smoking is a global epidemic. It is the number one cause of more than a quarter of all cancer deaths, with almost 80% being from lung cancer. Emphysema and bronchitis are diseases born by tobacco smoke.

Smoking is responsible for a myriad of preventable lifestyle diseases, an increased number of deaths, and immense economic costs.

The main psychoactive addictive ingredient in tobacco is nicotine which influences the central nervous system by increasing the levels of dopamine, endorphins, and glutamate giving out a pleasant, serene feeling experienced by the users.

Nicotine elevates adrenaline levels and provides an alertness boost and energy. It raises glucose levels in the blood by suppressing the hormone insulin. This effect reduces hunger. Nicotine is also a mild metabolic booster that leads to weight loss.

Along with an adrenaline boost, tobacco can wake an individual by mimicking and amplifying the concentration of acetylcholine neurotransmitters.

Ignited cigarette roll

The modes by which cigarette smoke impacts human health are distinct. Most of the chemical compounds present in tobacco smoke are toxic and carcinogenic. 

Tobacco compounds act directly or indirectly in the unfolding of different types of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, gene mutations, vasomotor dysfunction, and oxidative stress. This article aims at interrogating the effects of tobacco on the human body and some guidelines for cessation.

The detrimental effects of tobacco consumption have existed for more than two centuries. Epidemiological and experimental research present tobacco as a major global health concern.

Some of the health hazards of tobacco use on the human body are explained  below:

Dysfunction of Endothelial Cells

Chemicals generated from tobacco smoke alter the normal functions of the endothelial cells. The dysfunction involves the reduction in the net availability of nitric oxide, an increase in reactive oxygen species,  and a high expression of adhesion molecules that enhance trans endothelial fluid movement and deposition of complement components.

Oxidative Stress

Oxidative stress is the epicenter of many chronic inflammatory diseases. Scientific evidence shows large body damage from oxidative stress due to cigarette smoke. The effects are both acute and chronic.

The impacts of oxidative stress include immortalized cell lines and tumor cell lines. The damages are related to the chemicals produced in oxidative stress.

The distressed cells are metabolically poor because their biotransformation and deposition abilities are marred. Chemicals produced act directly as intoxicants on cells and organs or indirectly by bioactivation of drug-metabolizing enzymes.

Cardiovascular Diseases

Active smoking and exposure to combustible tobacco have been established to cause clinical cardiovascular diseases. Smoking tobacco enhances the development of coronary heart disease, stroke, and atherosclerosis. Particles and intoxicants like Lead, nickel, and cadmium are accounts for cardiotoxicity. The risk increases with the quantity of tobacco ingested and the extent of exposure.

Structure of the human heart

Nicotine stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, increasing the heart rate, blood pressure, and myocardial contractility. These short-term effects trigger myocardial ischemia and myocardial infarction.

Cancers

Chemical compounds in tobacco smoke have been linked to 13 malignancies. The driving force behind the development of these cancers is carcinogens available in combustible tobacco smoke. The smoke carries more than 7000 toxic chemicals and 70 cancer precursors.

Human lungs inflicted by cancerous cells

Lung cancer is the most prominent cancer among active and passive smokers. Other forms of cancers are oral, liver, pancreatic, skin, and colorectal.

Respiratory Diseases

Toxic substances in tobacco smoke are the chief cause of the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) globally. COPD contributes to more than 3 million deaths annually. Ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease cause more deaths compared to COPD. Tobacco smoke increases the occurrence of sleep apnea, tuberculosis, and asthma exacerbations. Passive smoking is associated with significant respiratory morbidities in nonsmokers.

Oral Diseases

Smoking is a risk factor for periodontal disease pathogenicity. The plague-induced oral inflammatory disease is depicted by the presence of gum recession, loss of periodontal ligaments, bone resorption, and tooth loss. The global prevalence of periodontitis stands at 11.6 percent translating to 743 million people.

Dental formulae disrupted by the effects of smoking

Smoke from tobacco alters oral microflora leading to the severity of periodontal diseases in smokers. Smoking affects periodontal therapy and refractory periodontitis. The change in microbiota tends to elevate the colonization of some oral pathogens. It lowers the immunological responses connected to neutrophils and antibody production. Tooth decay, bad breath, and discoloring of the teeth are other effects on the oral cavity.

Psychiatric Disorders

Smokers are more prone to depression, stress, and other psychiatric disorders. Most patients with anxiety disorder, attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia, hyperactivity, and substance abuse have a smoking history.

Eye Diseases

The risks of contracting eye-related diseases like cataracts, age-related macular degeneration, and glaucoma occur higher in tobacco smokers because of the constant irritation of the eyes by cigarette smoke.

Weak Bones (Osteoporosis)

Tobacco toxicity promotes the acquisition of porous bones. The bones are weakened because the mineral density in the bones is reduced and the effects are more dominant in the peripheral bone mass including the lumbar spine, proximal femur, and forearm bone. In osteoporosis, the bones are so weak and brittle that simple stress like bending or falling could fracture them. The injured bones take a longer time to heal.

Tobacco fans have high chances of developing gastrointestinal diseases like gallbladder disease, duodenal, and peptic ulcers.

Are Women More Vulnerable To Tobacco Smoke?

Women are more susceptible to both active and passive tobacco smoke as some of their physiological processes and secondary characteristics differ greatly from men's.

Developmental and Reproductive Effects

Tobacco use by expectant women has adverse effects on the growth, cognitive development, and behavior of the fetus. Tobacco inhibits various substance use during pregnancy and the treatment of the infant affected by the lethal smoke.

Female reproductive system 

Exposure to cigarette smoke poses a danger to maternal and child health. Pregnancy is a duration of physiological vulnerability to women and the unborn child. Smoking, therefore, magnifies stresses experienced during the gestation period. 

Changes associated with cardiovascular health, changes in blood flow, blood pressure, and glucose tolerance cause temporary diabetes or hypertension. There is also a significant shift in renal function and immune responses.

Fetal Vascular Injury

Structural abnormalities of the fetal vascular tissues are notable in smoking women. Smoke toxicants affect the vascular endothelium of the fetus which is demonstrated by resistance in the umbilical cord blood flow. The fetus also shows features of subclinical atherosclerosis.

Exposure of the growing embryo to the noxious substances in smoke is instrumental to lung impairment when the child attains adulthood status.

Low Birth Weight

Maternal tobacco use leads to the production of offspring with low average birth weight and is usually small for gestational age compared to children born with non-smoker parents.

Menstrual Cycles

Menstrual functions may be affected by smoking. Lack of menstruation, menstrual irregularities, and an increase in menstrual pains are popular among smoker women. The women also have young menopausal age and usually experience more menopausal symptoms.

Conception Delays

Decreased conception ability trails women who are involved in smoking activities. They also have threats to primary and secondary infertility. Chances for ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, preterm premature membrane rupture, and preterm delivery are intensified. Incidences of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, and estrogen deficiency disorders are common.

Weight Gain

Smoking attenuates weight gain. The average weight of smoking women is lower than those who are devoid of smoking tendencies or those who stopped smoking behaviors.

Ways of  Mitigating Smoking Habits

• Increase in the prices of cigarettes to reduce the purchase and use of the product, especially among the poor. This in turn will lower risks corresponding with primary and secondary smoking.

• Creation of awareness of the adverse health effects of tobacco smoking through media advertisement and other channels of communication. The messages about the destructive effects must be emphasized.

• Warnings on cigarette packets should include information on the deleterious health impacts on adults, children, and pregnant women.

• Introduction of pictorial labels showing the health damages caused by tobacco smoke to protect nonsmokers from cultivating the smoking demeanor and empower smoking cessation by the addicts.

• Protection of children from environmental tobacco exposure needs first-hand attention. Special education programs and campaigns should be formulated in all institutions of learning.

• Smoking restrictions in public places should be implemented to cushion nonsmokers from the outcomes of secondary/passive exposure.

• Advertisements geared toward promoting the purchase of cigarettes should be banned to curtail the propagation of the smoking gospel.

• Governments should prohibit indoor smoking tendencies as it exposes women, children, and other household populations to the perils of tobacco compounds.

The dangers of tobacco smoking are numerous and well documented by scientists in their various research and epidemiological experiments. The cessation of tobacco use can drastically diminish human deaths and incidents of lifestyle diseases such as cancers, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, osteoporosis, and some complications connected to the female reproductive system during pregnancy, birth, and lactation.

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