Poof—you may end up with dementia
I don't know how many times I have heard someone say, "I know I should quit smoking, but…" and I have to wonder what more incentive they could need beyond lung cancer and emphysema.
Well, I'll tell you about a fear that a good majority of my patients and I share: It's the thought of losing our mental faculties. And new research is showing that people who currently smoke are 50 percent more likely to develop dementia than are people who've never touched a cigarette or are reformed smokers.
One new study included 7,000 people over the age of 55. They were followed on average for seven years. During that time period, 706 of the participants developed dementia.
It turns out that smoking has several insidious ways of stealing your mental health. One of the more likely causes of dementia is oxidative stress—and all of that smoke certainly qualifies as an "environmental" factor that leads to oxidation. Free radicals, which are a byproduct of oxidation, run amok and literally rip through your body. In the process, they destroy cells in the blood vessels that can lead to hardening of the arteries. And, increased oxidative stress is closely associated with Alzheimer's disease.
As I've said more than once—antioxidants are your army when it comes to defeating free radicals. But to add to the burden that smokers face with oxidative stress, other studies have shown that smokers get less antioxidants in their diets than do their nonsmoking friends. The most likely reason is that folks who smoke may not be too concerned with other ways of maintaining their health—and a poor diet is just another bad habit.
But if the idea of doing what it takes to increase the odds of your retaining your mental faculties into a ripe old age sounds appealing to you, it's time to get rid of such bad habits. I know you want to retain the ability to make your own decisions for as long as possible, so make this your starting point: Make the decision to quit smoking. Then the next time you're in the grocery store, load up on some fresh fruits and vegetables to boost your antioxidant intake. Pick up a piggy bank too while you're there—you'll soon be saving a bundle of dough.
By the way, there are a number of excellent anti-inflammatories that help protect the brain. Three of my favorites are fish oil, curcumin (found naturally in curry as well as in many antioxidant formulations, including the excellent Supercritical Antioxidants from New Chapter), and grape-seed extract (as found in Masquelier's formula, available from Nature's Way).
