Posted by Science Admin | 0 Comments
Quit Smoking Without Gaining Weight
Scientists have long known that smoking suppresses appetite, although the mechanism behind it wasn’t clearly pinned down until recently. As a result, people who quit smoking tend to gain weight as their bodies adjust to the new lifestyle, and they become hungrier on average than their smoking peers.
This has of course become a major roadblock in quitting smoking. As if quitting weren’t hard enough by itself, it turns out that it can make you fat–although the benefits no doubt outweigh a little weight gain. Thankfully, new research suggests there may be a way to kick the habit without the extra pounds.
A recent study by Yale School of Medicine scientists showed how nicotine, an active ingredient in cigarettes, works to suppress hunger in smokers. This can pave the way for the creation of a new drug which would stave off cravings in new quitters, helping them quit without gaining weight.
The researchers found that nicotine activates a group of neurons in the hypothalamus, a small part of the brain that controls several functions, including hunger. These neurons then send a signal that the body is full. Nicotine appears to work by activating a different set of receptors, rather than the ones responsible for cigarette cravings.
The initial goal was to isolate the function of the brain’s nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, which appeared to be nicotine’s main target. The scientists tried a depression drug that had earlier proven effective on these receptors, and found that mice that were given the drug had a lower appetite than those who didn’t take it.
Looking deeper into the data, the researchers noted that the drug appeared to target specific nicotine receptors, which in turn made neurons in a section of the hypothalamus reactive. In mice where this reaction wasn’t present, there was little to no weight loss. However, the receptors involved were different from those associated with tobacco urges, leading to the assumption that it was possible to suppress the urge to smoke without increasing appetite.
The study, which was published June 10th in the journal Science, also proved one other fact: that smoking does play a role in weight loss and maintenance. But this shouldn’t be taken as a reason to keep smoking for weight loss purposes. The paper’s senior author, Marina Picciotto, said their ultimate goal was to find a way for people to maintain a healthy weight when they give up smoking, and maybe develop a treatment for obese non-smokers as well.
Read MorePosted by The Scientist | 0 Comments
Medical Science Contributing Massively to the Fight Against Smoking Addiction!
Slowly and gradually, man got hooked to this widespread addiction and with the passage of time it has almost become an urgent necessity for man. Even though there are people who are not addicted to tobacco smoking, still they are also harmed tremendously if they are exposed to passive smoking. Smoking is omnipresent in every nook and corner of the world. But unfortunately, even after being very well aware of the harm and destruction that is inevitable due to smoking, human beings are undeterred and are the least bothered to fight off this very harmful and at the same time, equally powerful addiction.
Efforts have been initiated from all quarters to help man ward off the addiction of smoking but the results that have been yielded so far are not that satisfactory. The bans on smoking that are considered to be favorite worldwide in reducing the prevalence of smoking, have been helpful to a certain extent in saving innocent people from the grip of passive smoking effects. But altogether, they have not yielded high success rates in encouraging people to quit smoking. Interestingly, most of the smokers are willing to give up smoking but sadly enough most of them are lacking in will power. Parting ways with nicotine addiction can be difficult and painful like parting ways with one’s beloved.
The extreme dependency on the addiction overwhelms the smoker and he hopelessly kneels down before the addiction.
Apart from the lack in will power being responsible for quit smoking failures to a certain extent, the smoking awareness programs have also failed considerably in encouraging people to give up smoking. They have been close to being non-existent as far as encouraging smokers to give up smoking is concerned. The bans and the expensive smoking awareness programs are going nowhere as far as persuading smokers to give up smoking is concerned.
In such a situation, when a whole array of attempts has failed to trigger off smoking cessation, medical science has emerged to be a gift for the smokers. Medical science, a boon for smokers has provided a lot of assistance to human beings so that they can successfully combat smoking addiction. It invented the concept of quit smoking drugs such as chantix. You can buy chantix as soon as you get hold of chantix prescription. Many people prefer to buy chantix online as the drug is easily available over the internet and in addiction sometimes one can even avail of discounts also while buying chantix from the net. Alongside the quit smoking drugs, medical science have also come up with other ways to minimize the large-scale addiction to smoking and other tobacco substances. They are, namely, safe nicotine products and safe tobacco.
By: Sandy Tonsing
About the Author:
The author is a health expert and writes articles on various issues related to the causes as well as consequences of smoking and also on the quit smoking medicine chantix. For more information, details and advice on smoking related matters, visit the website chantixhome.com