Truth on Smoking: There is one organ that does not forget your pack-a-day habit.
June 20th, 2009 by DMH(and you can’t guess which organ it is)
It’s true that the sooner you quit smoking, the sooner your body begins to forgive you. Within eight hours of quitting, the nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in your blood reduce by half, oxygen levels return to normal, and your circulation improves.
In twenty-four hours carbon monoxide and nicotine are eliminated from your body, and in forty-eight hours the decline in lung function and excess risk of lung cancer halts.
One year after quitting, your risk of a heart attack reduces by half compared with that of a smoker.
After being smoke free for fifteen years, your risk of a heart attack falls to the same as someone who has never smoked.
But unlike your heart or lungs, your colon is not so forgiving. Researchers have discovered that smoking creates a type of genetic damage known as microsatellite instability (MSI) that leads to colon cancer. MSI interferes with the ability of cells to repair damaged DNA, a process crucial to preventing damaged cells from turning cancerous. This research shows us that things we do can actually cause genetic changes in cells that may initiate a tumor. It is one more reason to stop smoking-and all the more reason to be watchful and conscientious about screening for this common cancer.
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