Smoking Can Cause Acne

Researchers from the San Gallicano Dermatological Institute in Rome found that cigarettes can cause acne as well as cause dull and wrinkled skin. They found that noninflammatory acne affected eight times more smokers than nonsmokers. Most of the nonsmokers that had acne lived or worked in environments with heavy smoke. Cigarette smoke can cause skin cells, called keratinocytes, to proliferate and clog pores.

Restaurant Smoking Bans Decrease Teen Smoking

A recent study shows that restaurant smoking bans help to persuade teenagers not to become smokers. Teens who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than teens that lived in communities without bans or that had weak bans. Smoking bans discourage tobacco use and sends out the message that smoking is not healthy. The ban also reduces the amount of smoke that teens are exposed to in public places.

Having a parent or close friend that smokes can be an influence as to whether or not a teenager experiments with cigarettes but strong bans in public places play a bigger role in whether a not the teen will develop a smoking habit. The study also found that the bans had a greater effect on younger teens than older teens.

Scientists Find Genetic Link to Smoking Addiction

Scientists have found genetic variations that make people more likely to get hooked on cigarettes and more likely to develop lung cancer. This new finding could lead to screening tests and customized treatments being developed for smokers that want to quit smoking. It also gives more insight on how genetics and lifestyle habits work together to cause cancer.

A person that smokes that inherits the genetic variations from both parents has an 80 percent greater chance of lung cancer than a smoker without the variations. The same smoker would light two extra cigarettes a day on average and have a harder time quitting than smokers that don’t have the variations.

Teens and the Addictive Powers of Smoking

Researchers have found that teenagers can get addicted to nicotine by smoking just one cigarette. After just one cigarette, a powerful reward system is set up in the brain. The more often a person smokes, the stronger the cravings will be.