Quitting Smoking Isn't Easy, but Comes With Major Benefits
- Actress Natasha Lyonne, 45, is on a quest to quit smoking after living with the unhealthy habit for many years. While she managed to quit cigarettes within the last 12 months, vaping is still a struggle.
- A recent study published in “Cancer Research” suggests vaping can damage the DNA of cells in a person’s mouth, similar to cigarettes.
- “The researchers found that epithelial cells (cells that line organs and are often the cells of origin for cancer) in the mouth showed substantial epigenomic (DNA) changes in smokers.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cigarette smoking is linked to about 80 to 90 percent of lung cancer deaths.
- Lung cancer screening is painless and lasts only a few minutes. It involves using a low-dose computed tomography (LDCT). While lying on a table, an X-ray will scan your lungs for anything unusual, such as a shadow over the lungs.
Actress Natasha Lyonne, 45, who starred on the popular Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” was once known as a heavy smoker despite the health risks it carries. However, in the past year, she made a lifestyle change of sorts as she gave up cigarettes, but its replacement – vaping – proved to be an equally opposing foe.
“Quitting cigarettes was a big enough swing for a while,” Lyonne said in a social media post.
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Last April, she made the bold decision to quit smoking. However, her nicotine cessation journey has not been easy. She told People Magazine, “It’s the worst decision I’ve ever made.”
After she quit cigarettes, Lyonne believes she’s become “softer” after giving up her tough guy chain-smoking image.
Although cigarettes appear to be a thing of the past, vaping still poses some health risks.
I’ve quit quitting vaping. Quitting cigarettes was a big enough swing for a while. Pretty sure I’m smoking the equivalent of 40 packs a day now instead of 4. No bueno. Take it from your grandfather, keep your lungs clean, kids. (And my wife’s name out your mouth obvs.) https://t.co/HSjrEPt2jP
— natasha lyonne (@nlyonne) January 18, 2024
A recent study published in “Cancer Research” suggests vaping can damage the DNA of cells in a person’s mouth, similar to cigarettes. Smoking cigarettes is widely known to be a cancer risk factor, most notably for lung cancer. However, researchers have long questioned if electronic cigarettes had a similar effect. This new study suggests vaping or e-cigarettes may have similar effects as cigarettes, but more research is needed to know conclusively.
Vaping or e-cigarettes are considered unsafe, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine – the same addictive substance found in cigarettes. E-cigarettes may also contain other substances, including liquid marijuana.
In the study published in “Cancer Research,” researchers analyzed over 3,500 samples of DNA methylation (chemical modification of DNA) exposed to tobacco and e-cigarettes.
“The researchers found that epithelial cells (cells that line organs and are often the cells of origin for cancer) in the mouth showed substantial epigenomic (DNA) changes in smokers. Importantly, these changes are further elevated in lung cancers or pre-cancers when compared to normal lung tissue, supporting the idea that the epigenetic changes associated with smoking allow cells to grow more quickly,” the study said.
WATCH: Understanding the risks associated with vaping.
Dr. Chiara Herzog is one of the study’s lead authors. After the study’s results were published, Dr. Herzog said, “We cannot say that e-cigarettes cause cancer-based on our study, but we do observe that e-cigarette users exhibit some similar epigenetic changes in buccal cells as smokers, and these changes are associated with future lung cancer development in smokers.”
Helping You Understand Wide-ranging Impacts of Smoking
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- Do You Need Some Motivation To Quit Smoking? Smokers Who Quit By 45 Reduce Their Excess Lung Cancer Risk by 87%, Research Shows
- Does Smoking Marijuana Cause Lung Cancer? Top Experts Tell SurvivorNet a Public Health Crisis is Coming
- Does Smoking Marijuana Cause Lung Cancer?
- New Study Finds Vaping Causes the Same Changes to DNA as Smoking Cigarettes
Cancer Screening for Smokers
The American Cancer Society (ACS) recently released new lung cancer screening guidelines explicitly aimed at heavy smokers.
RELATED: Smoking Doesn’t Just Cause Lung Cancer — It’s the Top Risk Factor For Bladder Cancer
“This updated guideline continues a trend of expanding eligibility for lung cancer screening in a way that will result in many more deaths prevented by expanding the eligibility criteria for screening to detect lung cancer early,” said Dr. Robert Smith, senior vice president, early cancer detection science at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the lung cancer screening guideline report.
Lung cancer screening is painless and lasts only a few minutes. It involves using a low-dose computed tomography (LDCT). While lying on a table, an X-ray will scan your lungs for anything unusual, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains.
Smoking and Lung Cancer Risk
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths for men and women in the United States. Nonsmokers still get lung cancer, but cigarette smoking is the number one risk factor for the disease. Tobacco smoke contains a mixture of more than 7,000 different chemicals, at least 70 of which are known to cause cancer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says.
The CDC says cigarette smoking is linked to about 80 to 90 percent of lung cancer deaths, and people who smoke cigarettes are 15 to 30 times more likely to get lung cancer or die from lung cancer than people who don’t smoke. Additionally, second-hand smoke can cause lung cancer.
WATCH: How Smokers and Non-smokers Differ
Smoking is, of course, the primary cause of lung cancer, but nonsmokers can and do develop this disease. Researchers have made progress in understanding the differences between lung cancer in smokers versus nonsmokers, says Dr. Ronald Natale, a medical oncologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and they’re developing targeted treatments that will be able to address the genetic drivers of lung cancer in nonsmokers.
“Among patients who are nonsmokers, or former very light smokers, we identify a mutation that we can target with pills in about 60% to 70% of them. That leaves 30% or so, 40%, in whom we either have a target for which we do not have successful treatment,” Dr. Ronald Natale, a medical oncologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, tells SurvivorNet.
“Among patients who are smokers, who have more complex cancers that have hundreds, sometimes thousands of mutations, don’t have a driver mutation that we can give a pill for, which is only a tiny percentage of lifelong smokers. Chemotherapy is the primary treatment in most patients,” Dr. Natale explains further.
If you quit smoking, you can significantly reduce your risk of developing the disease and dying from it.
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