According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, Women who quit smoking cut the biggest risks of death from heart disease “significantly” within five years and have a 20 percent lower chance of dying from related cancers in that time.

The study’s authors, led by Stacey A. Kenfield of Harvard University’s School of Public Health in Boston, analyzed post- 1980 data from the Nurses’ Health Study, a survey of almost 105,000 nurses conducted starting in 1976. The study will be published in the May 7th issue of JAMA

Researchers found that the risk of death was reduced by 13 percent within the first five years after quitting smoking, mostly due to a lower chance of dying from coronary heart disease, and dropped to the level of a person who had never smoked after 20 years.

“Our main message here is that the harms of smoking are reversible,” Kenfield said in a telephone interview from Boston yesterday. “For some causes of death, the reduction is much higher within the first five years. So it’s never too late to quit smoking. But we also saw a reduction in other diseases, so the message is that it’s never too late to stop even though you may have been smoking for many, many years.”

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death across the globe, with more than 5 million people dying from lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses annually, according to the World Health Organization. That figure may rise to 10 million a year by 2030.

Follow-Up Studies

The chance of dying from lung cancer dropped 21 percent within five years after quitting when compared with people who continued to smoke, although additional risk didn’t disappear for 30 years, the study said.

Former smokers who had quit 20 to 30 years earlier had an 87 percent lower chance of dying from lung cancer when compared with current smokers, the study said. The risk dropped to the same level as a person who had never smoked after 20 years for all smoking-related cancers, which include lip, mouth and stomach cancers.

The risk of death from respiratory disease dropped 18 percent within a decade after quitting, and approached the same level as a person who had never smoked after 20 years.

Unlike previous studies, the authors followed up with the survey respondents every two years to ask about their smoking status, which Kenfield said made the findings more accurate.

Other studies “did not see a drastic decrease in risk especially with people that had quit smoking for a long time,” Kenfield said. For chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer, “we saw a very nice decline in risk down to the level of a non-smoker over time.”

As a follow up to a previous article in which the makers of Smoke Away  preached the benefits of quitting smoking and living longer, this article certainly supports that assertion.

The makers of Smoke Away realize that the smoking cessation is very crowded. As well it should be, with an average of 400,000 people year dying from smokng related ilnesses and Big Tobacco continuing to manufacture cancer sticks, there is ample room for plenty of companies who want to help people quit smoking.

When Smoke Away was first created almost 10 years ago, it was with one thing in mind, and one thing only. That was, to help as many people as we could to quit smoking.  Over that period of time, we have learned a lot on what it takes to help keep people nicotine free. As much as Smoke Away helps, there is also a healthy dose of reality involved in helping you keep the quit. The reality being, if you don’t quit smoking now, today, this week, whatever, you will die eventually, that is the sad fact.

It has been written over and over and over. Smoking cigarettes will stunt your life. It will cause you to die sooner than if you did not smoke. Period. The sooner you get this thru to your thick skull, the sooner the makers of Smoke Away can help YOU quit smoking.

Sure you can try other smoking cessation methods and products. But chances are, the success that you have had is one of the reasons why your are reading this now. The reality? it didn’t work. That’s why you are here. You are looking for answers. Generally what we do is tell people who want to quit smoking, go visit Smoke Away Support and talk regular people just like you. It’s a forum with almost 3,000 people who have quit smoking, or are in the process of stopping smoking. Find out why Smoke Away worked for them, or maybe why it didn’t. The important thing is, start the dialogue now and find out why you need to ask yourself, Why not Smoke Away?

As usual Smoke Away wants you to quit smoking. To help you get on the path to stopping smoking, Smoke Away presents to you Smoke Away stop smoking images that you can print or use as screen savers as constant reminders to you to STOP SMOKING!       

Maybe Smoke Away Can Help? It certainly can’t hurt! What are you doing about your smoking addiction now? Are there any stop smoking tools you currently use? If not, then maybe these can help!

Here is some food for thought in your quest to be smoke free.

You do want to cut out the smoking, don’t you?

We’ve got a great idea, why don’t you try and quit smoking with the help of Smoke Away? Actually, how bout if you just quit smoking and leave it at that!

Need to talk to someone? Log onto the Smoke Away support group, they can help!

In our never ending efforts to get you to quit smoking by any means neccessary, Smoke Away presents Chris Pirillo and his take on tips to quit smoking.

Smokers with lung disease require more than brief smoking cessation interventions to successfully quit, researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University Smoking Cessation Center report.

Quitting smoking can be difficult for some and almost impossible for others. The reason — your genes — New research has found that a certain gene can make the difference as to whether or not someone will start smoking and then become addicted to the nicotine. In two studies featured in this month’s American Psychological Association’s journal of Health Psychology, researchers discovered that people carrying a particular version of the dopamine transporter gene are less likely to start smoking before the age of 16 and are more likely to be able to quit smoking if they start.In their article, ”Evidence Suggesting the Role of Specific Genetic Factors in Cigarette Smoking,” psychologist Caryn Lerman, Ph.D., of the Georgetown University Medical Center and her co-authors demonstrated for the first time that a link exists between smoking behavior and the dopamine transporter gene. In their study of 289 smokers and 233 nonsmokers, they found that individuals with a that specific genotype were less likely to be smokers than individuals without that gene. Furthermore, those with that gene started smoking later and were able to quit for longer periods oftime than other smokers.

Although many smokers attempt to quit at some point in their lives, only 20 percent actually succeed in quitting, say researchers. In their article, ”A Genetic Association for Cigarette Smoking Behavior,’‘ Dean H. Hamer, Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues found from examining 1,107 nonsmokers, current smokers and former smokers that the above mentioned gene was associated with certain personality characteristics that influenced a person’s susceptibility of being able to start and stop smoking.

A person with that genotype was found to have lower novelty seeking traits than a person without this genotype, according to the study. And because novelty seeking has been associated with a desire to smoke, said Dr. Hamer, ”a low level of novelty seeking could be a predictor of smoking cessation. Indeed, average novelty seeking scores were found to be significantly lower in former smokers than in current smokers. Those with low levels of novelty seeking have an easier time giving up cigarettes than those with high levels of novelty seeking.”

”We found that individuals who have the SLC6A3-9 gene were one and a half times more likely to have quit smoking than individuals lacking this gene,” said Dr. Hamer. ”However,” he cautioned that, ”the SLC6A3-9 gene is not a strict determinant of the ability to quit smoking, but rather an influence on an individual’s general need and responsiveness to external stimuli, of which cigarette smoking is but one example. Hopefully, with more of an understanding of the genetics of cigarette smoking behavior, we can develop more effective, targeted pharmacological and psychoeducational cessation strategies that will take these individual differences into account.”

The bottom line is if you smoke you need to quit. The makers of Smoke Away do not care how you do it, you just need to do it. Today!

In our quest to make the world smoke free, the makers of Smoke Away provide you with a nother visual reminder of why you really need to quit smoking, today!

I wonder if this latest news was created by Big Tobacco?

A study by an award-winning cancer expert shows that cell phone use could kill more people than smoking, it is reported.

According to the U.K.’s Independent newspaper, the study, headed by Dr. Vini Khurana, shows that there is a growing body of evidence that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer.

Khurana — one of the world’s top neurosurgeons — based his assessment on the fact that three billion people now use the phones worldwide. That is three times higher than people who smoke. Smoking kills some five million globally each year.

He warned that people should avoid using handsets whenever possible and called on the phone industry to make them safer. France and Germany have already warned against the use of mobile phones, especially by children, it is reported.

The study is said to be the most damning indictment of cell phone use. According to the Independent, cancers take at least 10 years to develop, which has influenced earlier cancer studies showing relative safety when using cell phones.

“Earlier this year, the French government warned against the use of mobile phones, especially by children. Germany also advises its people to minimise handset use, and the European Environment Agency has called for exposures to be reduced.

Professor Khurana – a top neurosurgeon who has received 14 awards over the past 16 years, has published more than three dozen scientific papers – reviewed more than 100 studies on the effects of mobile phones. He has put the results on a brain surgery website, and a paper based on the research is currently being peer-reviewed for publication in a scientific journal.

He admits that mobiles can save lives in emergencies, but concludes that “there is a significant and increasing body of evidence for a link between mobile phone usage and certain brain tumours”. He believes this will be “definitively proven” in the next decade.

Noting that malignant brain tumours represent “a life-ending diagnosis”, he adds: “We are currently experiencing a reactively unchecked and dangerous situation.” He fears that “unless the industry and governments take immediate and decisive steps”, the incidence of malignant brain tumours and associated death rate will be observed to rise globally within a decade from now, by which time it may be far too late to intervene medically.

“It is anticipated that this danger has far broader public health ramifications than asbestos and smoking,” says Professor Khurana, who told the IoS his assessment is partly based on the fact that three billion people now use the phones worldwide, three times as many as smoke. Smoking kills some five million worldwide each year, and exposure to asbestos is responsible for as many deaths in Britain as road accidents.

Late last week, the Mobile Operators Association dismissed Khurana’s study as “a selective discussion of scientific literature by one individual”. It believes he “does not present a balanced analysis” of the published science, and “reaches opposite conclusions to the WHO and more than 30 other independent expert scientific reviews”.

Reading news like this almost gives smokers a new reason to keep smoking. Or better yet, why don’t they just smoke and talk on their cell phones at the same time? Listen, if you are serious about quitting smoking, then why not at least try something, anything. The makers of Smoke Away would love for you to use their product, but if you don’t, thats ok. Just quit smoking!

Despite the well-known dangers of tobacco, more than a billion people worldwide still smoke cigarettes. On Thursday, in its first report on global tobacco use and control efforts, the World Health Organization helped shed light on why the number of smokers remains so high. Though tobacco is the world’s leading preventable cause of death—killing an estimated 5.4 million people a year (more than tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined)—the WHO report found that, while 152 countries have pledged to implement recommended tobacco-control policies, only a handful have taken strong action already. Governments around the world still take in, on average, more than 500 times as much from tobacco taxes as they spend on tobacco control.

—can governments help turn the tide?

Here’s another stop smoking video to motivate you to quit smoking. The makers of Smoke Away don’t care how you do it, just do it!