Just One Cigarette Doubles Risk of Addiction
Written by:
Karen Barrow -
Published on: July 10 2006
Think just one cigarette can't get you addicted? Think again.
For every teen who has said, "Oh, I'll try it just once," researchers
from the University College London have shown that even after smoking
just one cigarette, the compulsion to smoke another can last for at
least three years.
In fact, those who smoked just one cigarette by the age of 11, were more
than twice as likely to become habitual smokers in the years following
than those who never tried a cigarette.
"Our findings have implications for understanding the development of
cigarette use," write the authors in Tobacco Control, "Preventing
children from trying even one cigarette may be important."
In the study, researchers surveyed almost 6,000 London teens between the
ages of 11 and 16 about their cigarette use. Additionally, each child
had their saliva analyzed for signs of nicotine use.
In 2004, 14 percent of 11-year-olds stated that they had experimented
with cigarettes. But even those who had stopped after one cigarette were
twice as likely to have become a regular smoker by the time they were
14-years-old. For these teens, the gap between the first cigarette and
the second was more than three years.
The researchers state that this lag time between cigarettes shows that
there is a "sleeper effect" when it comes to cigarette use. Even one
smoke can change how the brain perceives rewards, so a teen may seek out
a cigarette for relief when later experiencing the stress of depression.
Additionally, the authors suggest that crossing the line by smoking just
one cigarette, makes it easier for a teen to smoke again in the future
without worrying as much about how their parents will react or how they
will look in front of peers.
Regardless of why the affect of just one cigarette can linger, the
researchers believe their work may help prevent today's kids from
becoming tomorrow's smokers.
"It may be that preventing children from trying even one cigarette is an
important goal, and prevention efforts could be focused at the earliest
ages," they write.
© 2006 Healthology, Inc.
--
"Absolutely Drug less Health Care solution Organization"
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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