Healthcast 688 - Nicotine Addiction….Is there a safe form of Nicotine?

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You have all heard about smoking and the risks of lung and mouth cancer as the biggest dangers associated with it. However, since the ban on smoking indoors, many people have switched from cigarettes to other forms of nicotine, such as cigars, e-cigarettes, pipes, hookahs, or Nicorette gum. Most of my patients believe these alternatives to be safer and think they are not at risk for cancer. They haven't even considered that nicotine is a drug that, when taken internally, increases the incidence of other deadly diseases. Today, I'll inform you about the risks you are taking by using nicotine in any form.

I guess I should back up a bit. The act of smoking cigarettes not only provides the smoker with nicotine but also presents many other concerns.

The average cigarette, cigar, pipe tobacco, and hookah contain these chemicals along with 69 others that have been linked to cancer:

• Acetone – the poisonous ingredient in nail polish remover.
• Benzene – the ingredient in gas and fuels that causes cancer.
• Arsenic – in murder mystery movies as the poison of choice.
• Formaldehyde – the chemical used to embalm dead bodies that causes cancer.
• Ammonia – the active ingredient in window cleaner.
• Lead is a toxic chemical that we avoid by treating our drinking water, so it doesn't contain it. It causes neurological damage and can lead to dementia.

No adult in their right mind would willingly put any of these chemicals into their body. Yet, the addiction to tobacco and nicotine leads millions to contaminate their bodies with these poisons. We haven't even begun to discuss the effects of nicotine.

If you are listening to motivate someone you love to stop smoking, you might want to memorize these chemicals and see if understanding this fact affects their ability to quit smoking.

If not, I have some more motivating yet unfavorable news for you. The drug nicotine is highly addictive, and it is indeed a drug. It falls into the category of stimulant drugs. Most individuals with anxiety issues tend to choose nicotine as their drug of choice.

Nicotine functions like any other stimulant; it causes the arteries to contract, reducing blood and oxygen flow. Over time, this results in elevated blood pressure, arterial stiffness, and an impaired ability to dilate when increased blood flow is necessary in a particular area. The next stage in this progression is arteriosclerosis, which may be followed by a heart attack or stroke.

Many people addicted to nicotine in cigarettes try other forms of the drug, generally derived from tobacco, introducing numerous other chemicals into their bodies.

Attempting to reduce nicotine by changing the method of ingestion still exposes you to another form of tobacco.

In medicine, we refer to smoking as "pack years" to describe the amount of cigarette smoking in the patient's history. A Pack Year is equal to one pack a day multiplied by the number of years the patient has been exposed to the poisons and nicotine from cigarettes.

Even though other forms of nicotine carry the same risks, we haven't developed a shorthand for exposure to these forms. However, we do understand the amount of nicotine present in each type of tobacco.

Cigarettes contain an average of 10 to 12 mg of nicotine each, but only about 1.5 mg is actually inhaled. A pack of cigarettes delivers approximately 28 mg of nicotine. You can compare that to other forms of nicotine:

Product Amount of nicotine Cigar 13.3–15.4 mg (large cigars) E-cigarette 0.5–15.4 mg (15 puffs) Pipe (tobacco) 30.08–50.89 mg Chewing tobacco 144 mg (whole can) Hookah 1.04 mg (per puff)

Now, the alternatives for stopping this addiction include replacing nicotine with something else that doesn't contain the chemicals responsible for cancer. Nicorette gum or lozenges are the most popular options, but they should not be used for extended periods. They serve as short-term solutions to an addiction, as they can still cause vascular damage.

The dose in one piece of Nicorette gum is 2 mg, which is equivalent to 1.5 cigarettes. This is not a permanent solution; other methods, such as acupuncture, hypnosis, and antidepressants, should be used to stop the addiction. A professional counselor or psychiatrist is the best choice for helping a smoker quit. Like any addiction, specialists are available to help and guide you throughout the process.