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Morbidly Obese: 1. Smoking Lowers Risk of Knee-Replacement Surgery
Morbidly Obese: 1. Smoking Lowers Risk of Knee-Replacement Surgery
Morbidly Obese: 1. Smoking Lowers Risk of Knee-Replacement Surgery
mice, as revealed in a study by Yale researchers published in the June 10, 2011, issue of the journal
Science.
No respectable doctor would recommend smoking for weight control, given the toxic baggage
accompanying cigarettes. This recent Yale study, however, does offer an inkling of hope for a safe diet
drug to help obese people control their appetites.
4. Smoking lowers risk of death after some heart attacks
Compared with non-smokers, smokers who have had heart attacks seem to have lower mortality rates
and more favorable responses to two kinds of therapy to remove plaque from their arteries: fibrinolytic
therapy, which is basically medication; and angioplasty, which removes the plaque by inserting balloons or
stents into the arteries.
There's a catch, though. The reason why smokers have heart attacks is that smoke scars the arteries,
allowing fat and plaque to build up in the first place. So, one theory as to why smokers do better than nonsmokers after such therapies is that they are younger, experiencing their first heart attack approximately
10 years before the non-smoker.
A study published in an August 2005 issue of the American Heart Journal, however, states that age alone
is not enough to fully explain the survival differences and that "the smoker's paradox is alive and well." No
alternative theories have been put forth since.
5. Smoking helps the heart drug clopidogrel work better
Clopidogrel is a drug used to inhibit blood clots for those patients suffering from coronary artery disease
and other circulatory diseasesleading to strokes and heart attacks. Smoking seems to help clopidogrel do
its job better.
A study by Korean researchers in the October 2010 issue of the journal Thrombosis Research builds upon
work by Harvard researchers published in 2009 that demonstrates the benefit of smoking at least 10
cigarettes a day. It seems that something in cigarette smoke activates certain proteins called
cytochromes, which convert clopidogrel into a more active state.
Again, no respectable doctor is encouraging patients to start smoking to get the most out of clopidogrel.
But this and the other four "benefits" of smoking reveal how tobacco perhaps not unlike other
potentially toxic plants might contain certain chemicals of real therapeutic value.
Christopher Wanjek is the author of the books "Bad Medicine" and "Food At Work." His column, Bad
Medicine, appears regularly on LiveScience.