‘Secondhand tobacco smoke dangerous to health’

HYDERABAD: Smoking is highly addictive besides causing health risks as it reduces oxygen intake and damages arteries, increases blood pressure, contributes to cholesterol levels and can lead to certain cancers.

Talking to reporters on Monday, Dr Muhammad Kashif Shaikh, chairman of Foundation Assistant professor and Director Interventional Cardiology Isra University hospital said equally alarming was the fact that hundreds of people who have never smoked die each year from diseases caused by breathing second-hand tobacco smoke.

Dr Kashif said smoking was totally avoidable cause of death and distribution or sale of tobacco was indefensible on public health grounds. He said smoking had really bad effects on the complexion, skin and muscles of the person among other parts of the body. There are many ways to take the challenge of quitting smoking, some people replace the smoking habit with some physical activity when tempted to smoke, he argued.

He said smoking leads to heart attack, cancer of lungs of oral cavity, cancer of esophagus, lung diseases like chronic bronchitis and emphysema and smoking was also an important risk factor of stroke.

Dr Kashif said smoking caused over 90 per cent chronic obstructive lung disease cases, the treatment of which was very difficult, where most patients ended up with respiratory failure. He said tobacco advertising had a strong influence on children, as it ''normalizes'' smoking, making it socially acceptable and make difficult for health education to convince people. He said there was no doubt the breathing second hand tobacco smoke (SHS) was very dangerous to our health and it causes cancer, as well as many serious respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in children and adults, often leading to death.

A research has revealed that increasing the daily amount of protein intake can help older adults preserve the ability to perform daily activities as well as prevent their risks of disability. The study found that eating more protein can delay the risk of disability that can obstruct them in performing basic daily and housekeeping activities independently including self feeding, bathing, dressing and participating in social activities, Science Daily reported.

Our findings support current thinking about increasing the recommended daily intake of protein to maintain active and healthy ageing, said Nuno Mendonca, lead researcher from Newcastle University in the UK.

For the study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, researchers examined 722 participants in North-East England, of whom 60 per cent were women. Older adults tend to have a lower protein intake than younger adults due to poorer health, reduced physical activity, and changes in the mouth and teeth.