A new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found compelling evidence that smoking causes premature brain shrinkage. About the alarming findings we will tell with the help of Forefront.
The study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, analysed brain scans and genetic data from over 32,000 participants in Biobank's UK database. The results showed that smokers had a smaller brain volume than non-smokers. What's more, the researchers found that the more packets you smoke per day, the more brain volume shrinks. Even quitting smoking did not restore the situation to normal, and the quitters still had smaller brains than those who had never smoked, indicating that the brain damage from smoking is irreversible.
The study's senior author, Dr. Laura Brut, explained that the effects of smoking on the brain have long been known, but have received less attention because of the focus on the effects of smoking on lung and heart health. As neuroimaging technologies have advanced, the effects of smoking on it are becoming a more common research topic, and researchers are discovering how much smoking accelerates natural aging and brain shrinkage.
This early loss of brain volume is consistent with the increased risk of age-related cognitive decline and dementia. As a higher proportion of the population reaches the age of over 70, protecting brain health in the earlier stages of life becomes more important to prevent cognitive impairment later.
Although the study found that smoking damage to the brain is irreversible, the researchers emphasize that quitting smoking can prevent further loss of brain tissue and reduce the risk of dementia later on. According to current estimates, one in five deaths worldwide is caused by tobacco use, and that's before studies have even begun on the severe brain damage of smoking, which also probably causes quite a few deaths.
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