Forword to "The Smoker's Guide to Vitamins and Health"

Gladys Block PhD, Professor of Public Health and Nutrition, University of California at Berkeley, CA

Recommending dietary changes for smokers is controversial. Everyone agrees that the best thing they can do for their health is to stop smoking. And so do I. But what about the person who has stopped, but is still at increased risk? And what about the person who is exposed to second-hand smoke? And what about the smoker who has tried to stop but has not yet been successful? If there is anything they can do to reduce their health risk, they have a right to know about it.

There is a great deal of research on the harmful effects of cigarette smoking (not just lung cancer!). But many people are not aware that there is also a great deal of research on fruits and vegetables and the antioxidant nutrients they provide, and how much they may reduce people's risk of harmful effects like heart disease and cancer. It is also known that smoking lowers blood levels of these antioxidants, and the National Academy of Sciences' Food and Nutrition Board has even set a higher daily requirement for vitamin C in smokers.

Alistair Moodie's book is a very well-researched and accurate summary of that research on smoking, vitamins and health. It will show you why you should get enough vitamins and fruits and vegetables, to reduce the harmful effects of cigarette smoke. Just as important he has very practical and specific suggestions about how to increase your intake of these nutrients. Even with today's busy lifestyles, it is possible to take valuable steps to protect your health .

Robert A Jacob, PhD, FACN, Research Chemist, Micronutrients Unit, US Department of Agriculture , Agricultural Research Service, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Presidio of San Francisco, CA.

Research studies have consistently shown that eating diets high in fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of developing many degenerative diseases, such as cancer, heart disease and eye cataracts. This is why dietary guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Cancer Institute, and the American Heart Association recommend eating five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables.

It is not known which of the many substances in fruits and vegetables might be responsible for the protection against disease, or why they are protective, but evidence indicates that "antioxidants" contribute substantially to the protection. Antioxidants, such as vitamins C, E and carotenes, can neutralize reactive oxygen species called "free radicals", which can damage body cells and initiate disease. Fruit and vegetables contain abundant amounts of natural antioxidants.

Recent research shows that smokers have lower blood levels of antioxidants compared to non-smokers, even when dietary intakes are equal. Smoking produces an increased oxidative stress on the body, and the body's antioxidants are used up faster in smokers than in non-smokers. This effect has been officially recognized only for vitamin C, for which the RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) was increased to 100 mg per day for smokers compared 60 mg per day for non-smokers. Recent evidence suggests that recommended allowances for other protective nutrients also should be raised for smokers. Thus smokers, who have an increased risk of developing many degenerative diseases due to smoking itself, also have lower body levels of nutrients that are protective against disease.

In the following pages, Alistair Moodie provides important information that smokers should know about antioxidants and health and the changes that smokers can make in their diet to help protect their health if they continue to smoke. Besides quitting smoking, the most useful change that smokers can make is to increase their intake of fruits and vegetables. Supplementing the diet with antioxidants is a secondary choice because there are many antioxidants in plants which are not yet isolated and available in supplement form. Also, many components of fruits and vegetables may protect against disease through actions other than antioxidant protection.

The author summarizes a great deal of information related to smoking, vitamins and health in a unique and interesting way. More importantly, this book offers a practical understanding of the special nutritional perils that smokers face, and the steps they can take to reduce their risks of developing disease .

Hans-Anton Lehr MD, PhD, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA.

Let's face it: SMOKING IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH - and no one can pretend they haven't heard. However despite the well documented health risks about 25% of adults in the United States, 46 million people, continue to smoke.

Interestingly more than two thirds of smokers express a desire to quit at least once every year, but only one in 40 does so with lasting success. The failure of so many smokers to quit the habit is largely due to the addictive action of nicotine, one of the major constituents of cigarette smoke.

Although many smokers may feel socially excluded by the ever increasing number of smoke-free restaurants, airplanes, workplaces and public areas, biomedical science has not abandoned them. Researchers have been successful not only in establishing an irrefutable link between cigarette smoking and many health hazards, but have also made major progress in identifying the mechanisms by which cigarette smoking exerts its harmful action. Only when you have recognized your enemy and identified his weaponry, can you devise effective means of protection.

This is exactly what is going on in biomedical science. The identification of harmful free radicals in cigarette smoke and in the lungs and blood stream of smokers has been a major advancement and has helped our understanding of how cigarette smoke causes damage to lungs and blood vessels leading to cancer. Indeed, one single puff of a cigarette contains one hundred trillion (100,000,000,000,000) free radicals, most which are inhaled into the lungs and find there way into the blood stream.

Yet, our bodies are not without effective means of protection against these free radicals. Antioxidants constantly fight and neutralize free radicals which are both generated in our organism during the normal wear and tear of body functions, and are also inflicted upon us in the form of food, sun beams, automobile exhaust fumes and other environmental pollutants, and - last but not least - cigarette smoke. Unfortunately, cigarette smoking additionally reduces antioxidant blood and tissue levels substantially, leaving smokers more vulnerable to the harmful action of free radicals.

And this is where this SMOKERS GUIDE TO VITAMINS AND HEALTH comes in: the most powerful antioxidants which we can use to boost our antioxidant defense system are also easily available in dietary vitamins and minerals, and even in green tea. We just need to know about them. Science has provided us with valuable clues, linking diets low in antioxidants with disease and diets rich in antioxidants with health. These findings are particularly important for the smoker.

Alistair Moodie has undertaken a major project in sifting through the scientific literature for these clues and has presented them to the public in a clear and understandable manner. The time is right for this book. Antioxidant diets and dietary supplements are safe, cheap, and available, and their impact on human health is impressive.

May this book find its way into the hands and minds of all those who know about the health risk they face by cigarette smoking, who have been unsuccessful in forsaking the highly addictive habit, but who can now actively do something to reduce their risk .

Harinder S Garewal MD, PhD, Assistant Director, Cancer Prevention & Control Program, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson, AZ.

A well-researched, easy to read, current manuscript addressing a rapidly evolving field. Smokers should discontinue smoking! Hardly anyone, smoker or non-smoker, will argue otherwise. Nevertheless, for many, this is easier said than done. Nutritional factors have a role in disease occurrence and prevention! Another statement few will disagree with. Many studies have suggested that smokers not only often have poorer dietary habits, but also metabolize nutrients differently and require increased intakes of "good" nutrients to maintain blood and tissue levels comparable with non-smokers.

Moodie has succinctly put together the findings of numerous studies and has done an admirable job of presenting this information in a balanced manner. Stop smoking and pay attention to nutrition (whether you stop smoking or not) is sound advice for disease prevention and health promotion. That smoking tobacco affects nutritional needs, and how one handles nutrients, is the take home message for smokers who just can't quit. As in any endeavor of this nature, there will be controversies surrounding one specific recommendation or the other .

Furthermore, the field continues to evolve as more is learned with each new completed study. In this environment of active, ongoing modulation of the state of knowledge, this book constitutes a valuable resource for smokers as they continue their attempts to stop smoking.

The Smoker's Guide to Vitamins and Health

(full text of the book's four forewords)

The Smoker's Guide to
Vitamins and Health