The dangers of nicotine addiction to your health

June 26, 2015

The dangers of nicotine addiction to your health: Why is nicotine addictive?

The dangers of nicotine addiction to your health knows no boundaries, you can become a slave of your own smoking habits

Taking stock of your life are you able to see the accumulation of nicotine in your system? I know that we often take inventory in other sectors of life but not in our own health yet this is one area that we should always prioritize on. If we could be doing that, we will be able to detect certain harmful things in our health before they germinate beyond control. Why is it necessary to take health inventory? Look around you and you will see that there are a lot of toxic elements around, the environment is chocking with pollution and nicotine forms the better part of it. This can explain why the dangers of nicotine addiction to your health are becoming evident every day. We will be speaking to doctor Dalal Akoury MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center to give us more insight about this problem even as we look at the general effects of substance abuse to human health. Doctor Akoury says that nicotine is an addictive element that majorly comes from the use of tobacco products, therefore when one uses any of the tobacco products; nicotine is quickly absorbed into their bloodstream and then circulated into the various body systems and organs. It is important to note that this element moves swiftly and in just 10 seconds of entering your body, the nicotine element will be knocking at the door of your brain which is often its ultimate destination. When nicotine settles in the brain, it will cause the brain to release adrenaline, creating a buzz of pleasure and energy.

The buzz fades quickly though, and leaves you feeling tired, a little down, and yarning for the buzz again and again. It is this feeling of wanting more of the nicotine that makes you light up the next cigarette and the circle continues so long as the need is still there. And just to put more emphasis on that is that since your body is able to build up a high tolerance to nicotine, you’ll be forced to smoke more and more cigarettes in order to get the nicotine’s pleasurable effects primarily to prevent the occurrence of any withdrawal symptoms.

The danger of this up and down cycle will be repeated over and over, thereby leading to an addiction. Remember that when addiction settles in, it will keep the individual users or smokers to keep the habit of smoking even when they want to quit and that is why breaking addiction is hard for some people than others. Many people need more than one try in order to quit. Research suggests that children and teens may be especially sensitive to nicotine, making it easier for them to become addicted. Doctor Akoury explains that tobacco use can be very dangerous to everyone and preventing is usage would be highly recommended. She adds that the age of introduction to tobacco use is very significant in determining how one will behave in the near future. Experts have actually established that when one is introduced to smoking at a younger age, such individuals are at a higher risk of becoming addicted to nicotine. It is no wonder the available statistics from various researches done indicate that up to three out of four high school smokers will become adult smokers.

The dangers of nicotine addiction to your health: Why are cigarettes addictive?

I was once asked this question in a forum where students were being educated on the effects of drug abuse. I will repeat what I told the young people then to help you understand why cigarette is addictive. The truth is cigarette is made to be much more addictive for commercial gain at the expense of your health. Without thinking twice I can confirm to you that cigarette producers, manufactures or makers are not ignorant of the fact that nicotine addiction helps sell their products. The addictiveness of this element is used as a retention tool, to keep clients hooked and keep using their product. It is no wonder cigarettes today deliver more nicotine much faster than ever before. So when asked about this question, you must be informed that tobacco companies are very much aware of what they are doing and that they are using additives and chemicals to make cigarette even more addictive so that you remain a loyal and frequent client not because you like but because you have been made to.

The dangers of nicotine addiction to your health: Why are smokeless tobacco products addictive?

Remember what I said before that tobacco products are the major sources of nicotine. Therefore where the mode of usage doesn’t matter, whether it is smoked or chewed the end result is that nicotine is being taken in. it therefore means that all the nicotine found in all tobacco products are highly addictive drugs that acts in the brain and throughout the body. Dip and chew contain more nicotine than cigarettes. Holding an average-sized dip in your mouth for 30 minutes can give you as much nicotine as smoking three sticks of cigarettes. And again using two cans of snuff a week gives you as much nicotine as someone who smokes one and a half packs of cigarettes a day.

The dangers of nicotine addiction to your health: What happens when I quit smoking?

Like other substances, tobacco and nicotine are equally very addictive just in the same way as alcohol, cocaine, and heroin. The common denominator about all drugs is that, when you stop smoking or cutback your tobacco use, you will experience withdrawal problems and when going through this process of withdrawal, you are likely to experience some of the following:

Anxiety
Irritability
Headache
Hunger
Cravings for cigarettes and other sources of nicotine

Finally nicotine withdrawal is short-lived and symptoms pass in time, usually less than a week. However withdrawal is the most uncomfortable part of quitting, but the real challenge will be beating the long-term cravings and staying away from tobacco hence forth. In your struggle with this problem of drug addiction, it is important that you get professional help to go about the whole process. This way you will be guided step by step and chances of making mistakes will be avoided. That is why doctor Akoury founded this medical center to help people live you regain their lives back. You can therefore schedule for an appointment with doctor Akoury for more professional input.

The dangers of nicotine addiction to your health: Why is nicotine addictive?

Endothelial Progenitor Cells For Injured Tissue Repair

June 3, 2015

Endothelial Progenitor Cells Role on Injured Tissue

The endothelial progenitor cells are sourced from the bone marrow and have been found to have the ability to proliferate and differentiate in mature endothelial cells. However, these cells are not only sourced from the bone marrow alone but can also be found in large proportions in non-marrow sources like spleen which particularly has been found to be rich in EPCs. Isolated spleen-derived mononuclear cells, pre-selected with an endothelial cell medium, demonstrated endothelial cell characteristics and formed tubular-like structures. There are hopes that these cells can be used to sufficiently improve re-endothelialization and lessen neointima formation after carotid artery injury. In a trial, intravenous transfusion of spleen-derived EPCs in splenectomized mice showed special homing to the injured area. However, these results were only achieved when the host organ was removed. Thereafter, it was suggested that removal of the spleen prolonged the EPC time in circulation, which may result in a change of surface markers on the cell because of homing signals of the injury site thus favoring recruitment to the ischemic area rather than preferential homing to the organ of origin. With researchers still working to establish the mechanism with which the EPCs repair damaged tissues; there is hope that these cells can be useful in treatment of injured tissues.

Apart from the crucial role of maintaining the cardiovascular homeostasis that the vascular endothelial cells play, they also provide a physical barrier between the vessel wall and lumen. The endothelium also secretes a number of mediators that regulate platelet aggregation, coagulation, fibrinolysis, and vascular tone. However crucial functions the endothelium plays, it may lose its physiological properties and hence termed endothelial dysfunction. Incase this occurs it will not be able to promote vasodilation, fibrinolysis, and anti-aggregation as it normally does to ensure sound vascular health. Endothelial cells secrete several mediators that can alternatively mediate either vasoconstriction, such as endothelin-1 and thromboxane A2, or vasodilation, such as nitric oxide (NO), prostacyclin, and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor. Nitric oxide is the chief contributor to endothelium-dependent relaxation in conduit arteries; however the contribution of endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor predominates in smaller resistance vessels.

Restores endothelial functions

The endothelial progenitor cells are essential as they are immature but with the ability of differentiating into mature endothelial cells and hence may help restore the endothelial functions in case of injuries that may result in endothelial dysfunction. The release of growth factors and cytokines may cause vascular injury and tissue ischemia which will in turn mobilize endothelial progenitor Cells which will specifically home in on the ischemic sites to stimulate compensatory angiogenesis once in the peripheral circulation.

Furthermore, endothelial progenitor cells forms part of a pool of cells able to form a cellular patch at sites of endothelial injury, thus working directly to achieve the homeostasis and repair of the endothelial layer. Endothelial progenitor cells have now been identified to be playing a major role in cardiovascular biology, as a matter of fact, the extent of the circulating EPC pool is now considered a mirror of cardiovascular health. Practically all risk factors for atherosclerosis have been linked to declining population of circulating endothelial progenitor cells or their dysfunction. The increase in population of the circulating endothelial progenitor cells have been linked to decreased cardiovascular mortality.

One of the common diseases of the cardiovascular is atherosclerosis which is characterized by leucocyte infiltration, smooth muscle cell accumulation, and neointima formation. Basically atherosclerosis is a cardiovascular inflammatory disease. It has been shown that the activation and damage of the endothelial layer is what causes the development of lesions. Recent studies have disputed an earlier notion that the adjacent intact endothelium replaces the damaged endothelial cells. These studies have demonstrated the recruitment and incorporation of vascular progenitor cells into atherosclerotic lesions and thus providing evidence in support of the role of vascular cells in the development of the disease. The incorporation of endothelial progenitor cells into mice showed promising results. In a model of transplant atherosclerosis, regenerated endothelial cells from arterial grafts were found to originate from recipient circulating blood but not the remaining endothelial cells of the donor vessels. It was also found that the endothelial monolayer in a vein graft three days after surgery was completely lost and later replaced by circulating endothelial progenitors.

The endothelial progenitor cells are able to mediate vascular repair and attenuate the progression of this disease even when there is a continued vascular injury. treatment of chronic injuries have been done with endothelial progenitor cells in mice in trials , however the mechanism involved is still a mystery but it is clear that these EPCs contribute a big deal to the restoration of the injured endothelial layer. In one example, intravenous infusion of spleen-derived mononuclear cells increases endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in atherosclerotic mice, signifying that progenitor cells play an important role in repairing the vascular injury.

Finally, for more information about bone marrow transplant and stem cell transplantation, visit www.awaremednetwork.com. Dr. Dalal Akoury has been practicing integrative medicine for years; she will be able to help. You can also visit http://www.integrativeaddiction2015.com and learn more about the upcoming Integrative Addiction Conference 2015. The conference will deliver unique approaches to telling symptoms of addiction and how to assist patients of addiction.

Endothelial Progenitor Cells Role on Injured Tissue

Quitting Smoking without fear of Gaining Weight

April 22, 2015

Quitting Smoking without fear of Gaining Weight: How to kick the habit without packing on the pounds

Quitting Smoking without fear of Gaining Weight include seeking for help, advice and support from the family

You have been in a weight loss class and your instructor noticed that you are smoking. He tells you that smoking is not only harmful to your health but will also rearrange your facial appearance. And because you want to look good you desire to quit is primarily to look good both on the body and on appearance. But wait a minute you missed appoint and you have just remembered, that he also said that while quitting you will gain a little more as a result of losing. This point sends you thinking of the great contradiction. You registered to lose and not to gain, the instructor tells you to quit smoking which is going to work against your desire to lose weight. You are in a dilemma and I totally agree with you. This dilemma is what I want to address in this article. Our focus is going to be on quitting smoking without fear of gaining weight.

We spoke to doctor Dalal Akoury who is a medical doctor specializing on addiction, obesity and weight gain and also the MD and founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center to help us in unlocking certain all your concerns. Doctor Akoury has been in the medical practice for more than two decades and has help many people deal with their addiction alongside weight gain and yours will not be a problem if only you can schedule for an appointment with her today. Doctor Akoury says that if you are a smoker, the best thing you can do for your health which is the most valuable asset you have is to eliminate and completely kick out the smoking habit from your life.

Quitting Smoking without fear of Gaining Weight: Smoking and weight gain

Even though cigarette smoking is addictive and difficult to quit, it is not impossible either. The challenges will always be there including the dilemma we are focusing on. Eliminating cigarette smoking often goes hand in hand with weight gain. Is it possible to be both slimmer and smoke-free so long as there is a resolve commitment to do so in the right way with the guidance of professionals? While appreciating the likelihood of gaining some weight when you stop smoking, the gain will not be that threatening as you may passive. Yes it is true that cigarette activates your metabolism and that you will burn about 250 calories because of smoking and quitting will mean that your metabolism rate will slow down leaving you with a pack of 250 calories to deal with resulting in weight gain for many people. Doctor Akoury says that under normal circumstances majority will gain some two pounds on quitting the first time in a few weeks. This is likely to cause a concern to people that what would be the impact in a few month is in just two weeks you add two!

The feeling is mutual in this case however this should not motivate you to go back to smoking to have you metabolism reactivated. Doctor Akoury advices that you need to hung on because the increase will not escalate to unhealthy weight. Your focus should be on the end result not the temporal obstacles. In this case you could compare the benefits of quitting with not quitting and the negligible weight gain and you will be able to see that the gain is a lesser sin. The benefits of a smoke-free lifestyle both inside and out to those few extra pounds means nothing. Take for instance the possibilities of your vital organs like the lungs, heart, and the arteries start repairing themselves almost immediately after the last puff. And not only that, your skin clears up and starts to look smoother, your fingernails stop looking yellow, your breath improves, and your teeth can be bright again. All these less-obvious benefits of smoking will have you looking great, even if you put on a few. If this has convinced you to take the worthy challenge then you can schedule for an appointment with the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center for professional assistance. But in the meantime, let us consider the best approach to go about it the whole exercise.

Quitting Smoking without fear of Gaining Weight: The Right Approach

People will often take the quitting challenge differently with some people just opting to stop by making up their mind and literally disposing off the cigarette. This is fine however experts recommend a systematic approach to be the most effective. Therefore it is important than up on the resolve to quit, you need to set a quite date and prepare for it by setting aside some extra time to start a regular physical activity, like walking. And do your best to bypass the buffets and start eating healthier.

During this time ensure that you make improvement on your diet, make it healthy and this will help in the minimizing weight gain.

Next, start to pinpoint what situations which may trigger the urge to smoke and get ready to deal with them.

The urge for a cigarette tends to be the most pronounced the first few days after quitting for most people. After the fifth day, the number of urges starts to decrease.

While it varies from person to person, the urges will typically continue although less frequently for several weeks or even months. But they are still as annoying as when you first quit, so be prepared to tackle them head-on. With this mechanism in place, you are now ready to quit.

Quitting Smoking without fear of Gaining Weight: Quitting Time

When it comes time to quit, the following are tips to help you minimize cigarette cravings and weight gain:

Drink more water at least 8-ounce glasses of water a day. This will keep you hydrated, help you feel full, and give you something to do with your hands.
Make smart choices when snacking. Quitting smoking will increase your snacking appetite. While you should avoid substituting food for cigarettes, you should plan healthy snacks, like cut-up veggies, fruit, or almonds or pistachios (in limited amounts.) Try to avoid sugar and unhealthy starches. If you feel you must have sweets, go for sugarless and fat-free ones. But keep in mind that fat-free snacks often have just as many calories due to the added sugar.
When a craving for a cigarette strikes, be prepared. If you want certain snacks around, make sure they’re handy and healthy. Have water around. Take a walk, have a soda. Think these things through so when an urge hits, you are prepared. It’s all about careful planning.
Keep up the physical activity and the healthy eating. This will help you quit smoking as well as trim your waistline, explains Purcell.
Be ready for challenges. You have to have the right mindset and be prepared for challenging times. If you can get through the first two weeks, chances are you’ll make it.
Most importantly, even if the needle on the scale starts to creep upward, don’t reach for that cigarette! Just stick it out and let your metabolism even off. It’s only temporary, and you can address the weight later after you’ve quit.

Quitting Smoking without fear of Gaining Weight: How to kick the habit without packing on the pounds

Alcohol Abuse Linked to Esophageal Cancer

January 21, 2015

Alcohol Abuse and Esophageal Cancer

Alcohol abuse has become prison walls to many people, needless to mention economies are crippled because of this societal vice that has made many people incapable of even fending for themselves. Apart from the whole known fight with alcohol addiction and its related consequences, alcohol abuse has also been identified by researchers as a cause of different cancers. Unfortunately alcoholism is not very easy to quit especially without professional help. Many people who try to stop alcoholism have to give in to the cravings for alcohol. Some may also be pulled back into alcoholism due to the withdrawal symptoms that may be hard to deal with. However hard dealing with alcohol addiction can be, there are numerous ways that medics can use to help an addict break the chain of addiction and help him reduce his chances of falling victim to certain cancers. One of the most important factors that will determine whether the addict will succeed in the fight against addiction is the willingness and commitment of the addict to put up with every advice of the doctors. If you are abusing alcohol and you haven’t seen the need to quit it, I guess you should since it has been linked to many different cancers. One of the cancers that alcohol abuse has been linked to is the esophageal cancer. You may not know much about it but it’s good to note that just like any other type of cancer, esophageal cancer is not lenient at all and so you should carve your path and walk away from this disease.

In this article we will look at how alcohol causes these two main types of esophageal cancers; esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA). In the past it has been known that tobacco smoking is a leading cause of different types of cancers including esophageal cancer but recently research study reports have also indicated that excessive alcohol consumption increase the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Today, esophageal cancer (EC) is the 8th most common incident cancer in the world and, because of its high fatality rate, ranks 6th among all cancers in mortality. It is not surprising, therefore, that the etiology of EC has been investigated for over a century. Based on clinical observations, Craver in his Clinical study of etiology of gastric and esophageal carcinoma in 1932 and Watson in 1939 list excessive use of alcohol and tobacco, low socioeconomic status, poor oral health, and consumption of hot drinks as risk factors for EC. These two scientists even cited past research papers on EC etiology published to back up their findings. In particular Craver cites a 1920 article from Argentina that suggests maté drinking as a risk factor for EC.

Alcohol consumption has long been known to be a major cause of esophageal cancer in most areas of the world just like tobacco smoking which is known by many people as a huge cancer risk. Classic ecologic and case-control studies by Tuyns and others in the 1970s and 1980s in his study Cancer of the esophagus: further evidence of the relation to drinking habits in France, established alcohol as a strong cause of esophageal cancer in many countries, and showed that alcohol drinking and tobacco smoking interact to increase esophageal cancer risk in a multiplicative manner. IARC has classified alcohol drinking as a known cause of esophageal cancer.

Generally, it has been found that excessive alcohol consumption is a cause of esophageal cancer however alcohol abuse increases the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma than it does with esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA), but these are just different sides of the same coin-esophageal cancer. When used in excessive amounts (3 or more drinks per day), alcohol has almost universally been associated with an elevated risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; it typically increases risk by 3–5 fold. In contrast, there is little evidence for an association between alcohol drinking and esophageal adenocarcinoma. However, the majority of the case-control and cohort studies that have investigated this association have found no overall relationship between alcohol consumption and esophageal adenocarcinoma, or have found relatively weak associations between alcohol and esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Nevertheless there has been some sort of controversy on this issue as some researchers have opined that some studies have suggested that only certain types of alcohol may be have effects on esophageal adenocarcinoma. for instance in this study; Obesity, alcohol, and tobacco as risk factors for cancers of the esophagus and gastric cardia: adenocarcinoma versus squamous cell carcinoma, done by Vaughan TL, Davis S, Kristal A, Thomas DB in 1995, the reports suggests that drinking wine may reduce risk. However no other study has come up to support these findings.

Esophageal Cancer In the past the link between alcohol and cancer was not easy to establish since alcohol itself does not bind DNA, is not mutagenic, and does not cause cancer in animals but there are mechanisms that have been known that has since helped to establish the link between alcohol abuse and increased risk of certain cancers. One of these mechanisms is that it is converted to acetaldehyde which is harmful as it causes DNA alteration leading to gene mutation which escalates risks to cancer. Alcohol is also a solvent to other mutagens and also causes nutritional deficiency.

Drug addiction is a vice that should be fought by all means that is why we at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are committed to availing help to addicts and offering them a place to call home. We offer NER Treatment and Amino acid therapy that are the most effective approaches to addiction treatment and recovery. You call on Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) today and begin your journey to victory against addiction.

Alcohol Abuse and Esophageal Cancer

Addiction and Cancer Development

January 12, 2015

Role Of Addiction In Cancer Development.

The term addiction is not very friendly to many ears, it prickles and no one ever want to be associated to addiction as it’s a state that leaves you vulnerable and out of control of your life. depending on the drug or habit you are addicted jyou will suffer given symptoms some of which are very adverse. drugs of pleasure are a major curlprit of addiction as people will always tend to use them again and again to get the rare euphoric feelings which brings them closer to addiction by and by enslaving them in a tight grip they can’t break free from. Addiction bto certain drugs have also been linked to cancer development.

Dreaded by all cancer is a monster that has perfected the art of terrorism. It very expensive to manage and so the very day some people get the information that they are sick of this disease, that becomes a death sentence to them as they can’t afford to treat the disease. The disease is not easy cured though not incurable. However the cost of curing this disease has made it a death sentence to many people especially in the 3^rd world countries where it has continued to rob people of their loved ones due to high bills that can never be afforded. The disease is synonymous to pain and this has made it the most dreaded disease. The fact that it can’t be easily treated therefore leaves us with one better option which is to avoid it all costs. Prevention is the best option when dealing with cancer. When it comes to avoiding cancer then whatever goes through your mouth becomes a concern, you need to eat healthy food and desist from anything that may beckon tumor growth and this include avoiding use of drugs that may eventually cause cancer. Addiction has very many health risks cancer development included. It is a known fact that smoking causes cancer and anybody addicted to tobacco has higher chances of developing cancer. However there are other drugs that when a person is addicted to then he comes closer to cancer.

Cigarette addiction causes cancer

cigarettes contains a concoction of about 5000 chemicals that are not very safe for health. It also contains nicotine which is very addictive. Taking it once may not be so dangerous but with the high nicotine content you are bound to get addicted exposing yourself to harmful chemicals. Other chemicals, including nitrosamines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are formed when the tobacco leaves are processed or burnt. This is all before the tobacco industry adds the hundreds of other chemicals to cigarettes. This is why there is no safe way to use tobacco.

When you smoke the chemicals in cigarettes get into your body causing myriad of problems including cancer. The main way that smoking causes cancer is by damaging the DNA and altering the functioning of key genes that protect our bodies against cancer. Many of the chemicals found in cigarettes have been shown to cause DNA damage. These chemicals includes; benzene, polonium-210, benzo, pyrene and nitrosamines. Cigarettes also contain chromium which makes poisons like benzo and pyrene which stick even stronger to the DNA causing more harm. And chemicals like arsenic and nickel interfere with pathways for repairing damaged DNA. This makes it even more likely that damaged cells will eventually turn cancerous. Therefore to evade cancer you should try to avoid cigarettes addiction.

Smoking cigarettes causes cancer but that does not mean that when you smoke it once you will be cancerous, at the same time it does not mean that if you have been smoking cigarettes for a year and you are still cancer free then you can’t ever get cancer through smoking. Cancer is a multi-step disease-it grows over a long time; it may even take a decade for smoking to cause cancer. This is because naturally our bodies are designed to deal with a bit of damage but it’s hard for the body to cope with the number of harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke. Over time DNA damage builds up and makes it more and more likely that our cells will become cancerous. It is therefore necessary for a beginner to stop smiling before he becomes addicted as that will increase his chances of getting cancer.

Alcohol addiction linked to cancer

Alcohol consumption is common among people of different ages despite the many risks that it poses to a person’s health. Alcohol addiction has been linked to cancer though researchers are yet to understand how it directly beckons cancer. Here are some of the ways alcohol addiction is thought to cause cancer. Firstly, when alcohol is taken it is converted into a very harmful chemical known as acetaldehyde. This chemical can cause cancer by damaging DNA and stopping our cells from repairing this damage. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified acetaldehyde formed as a result of drinking alcohol as being a cause of cancer. Acetaldehyde also causes liver cells to grow faster than normal. These regenerating cells are more likely to pick up changes in their genes that could lead to cancer.

Alcohol also affects the delicate balance between estrogen and testosterone hormones. When the levels of estrogen hormone become then the risk of breast cancer is increased. Alcohol can cause cancers through many ways and therefore it is necessary to avoid alcohol addiction as that may favor cancer development.

Role Of Addiction In Cancer Development.

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