Smoking Prevents Allergies

Smoking is extremely damaging to the health of both the smoker and those around him or her. Still, even if smoking can cause lung cancer and pulmonary diseases, and decrease the response time of the immune system when dealing with infections, it can also prevent allergies, a new study comes to show, as quoted by Science Daily.

Cigarette smoke can decrease the reaction of the immune cells when allergens are present, which means the body does not have an allergic reaction, researchers have established after analyzing the response of mast cells in mice. Oddly enough, even if cigarette smoke does that and literally prevents an allergy, it is said not to influence the other functions of the cells – nevertheless, plenty of stress might be placed on that this should be by no means reason enough to start smoking.

“A leading expert in the field of respiratory medicine demonstrates that cigarette smoke decreases the allergic response by inhibiting the activity of mast cells, the major players in the immune system’s response to allergens. Researchers at Utrecht University in the Netherlands found that treatment of mast cells with a cigarette smoke-infused solution prevented the release of inflammation-inducing proteins in response to allergens, without affecting other mast cell immune functions.” Science Daily writes on the subject of the new study.

Again, this research should not be used as an excuse to start smoking, the medical publication points out, but rather as a first step in the direction of understanding why the allergic response in smokers is lower than in non-smokers. Further studies will aim to establish this connection, but only after researchers prove that what they noticed in mice mast cells also applies to the human body when exposed to cigarette smoke.

Speaking of exposure to cigarette smoke, the findings of another recent study urged non-smokers to avoid restaurants and pubs where smoking was allowed in special areas, since the residue toxins in the smoke could travel from one place to another. “Scientists from Harvard University found that the trace residue from tobacco contains 250 toxins, such as carbon monoxide, arsenic, and lead, that don’t disappear once the cloud dissipates.” Shape magazine was saying a couple of days ago, adding that these toxins could last even months on the objects around us and even in the household dust we inhale.