Tobacco.org

• Study Shows Smoking Effects Throughout Body 

Smoking causes damage throughout the body by lowering levels of an enzyme key to physical and mental health, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

Smoking is known to damage the lungs, heart and arteries, but PET scans showed it affected these organs as well as the kidneys and spleen by its impact on monoamine oxidase B, the researchers said.

"When we think about smoking and the harmful effects of smoke, we usually think of the lungs and of nicotine," Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and a researcher on the study, said in a statement.

"But here we see a marked effect on a major body enzyme in sites far removed from the lungs that we know is due to a substance other than nicotine. This alerts us to the fact that smoking, which is highly addictive, exposes the whole body to the thousands of compounds in tobacco smoke."

Jump to full article »