Do you think it would be a good idea to sell cigarettes in plain white packets?

BBC News article considers whether plain white packets for cigarettes would be a good idea to help to reduce smoking. I would favour this. I think it would reduce the numbers of children tempted to start smoking, and therefore save a lot of avoidable illness and suffering.

One good thing: from today it is "a legal requirement for all packs of cigarettes to carry a graphic health warning, showing such images as diseased lungs and deeply yellowed teeth."

Smoking is a heavy burden on the NHS and is the cause of about 1 in 5 deaths.

The Telegraph reports that smoking costs the NHS more than 5 billion pounds a year and is the cause of 1 in 5 deaths in Britain. This "does not include indirect costs such as informal care, the costs of treating disease caused by passive smoking and the full range of conditions associated with smoking."

Speaking from my own experience, both of my parents smoked, and I had long spells in hospital and spent much of my childhood coughing...)o:

If you are a smoker, you do harm others by your smoking, even if you try not to believe this.

If you are pregnant, there are 3 things you should cut down on for the health of the baby and yourself: alcohol, smoking and salt

Alcohol - See Half of women drink alcohol while pregnant - Telegraph article

Extract: "More than half of women drink alcohol while pregnant despite growing evidence that it can lead to low IQ, attention deficit disorders and more serious lifelong complications in children."

Smoking - See Ten reasons for pregnant women to quit smoking - Daily Mail article

Salt - See advice for pregnant mothers

Professor Julian Le Grand, chair of Health England, says a completely fresh approach is required to reverse the epidemic of obesity...

Unveiled: radical prescription for our health crisis

Extract from the article in the Independent:

"A radical plan to persuade people to stop smoking, take more exercise and change their diets was proposed last night by a leading Government adviser.

As new figures were published yesterday showing that England tops the European league as the fattest nation in the EU, Professor Julian Le Grand, chair of Health England and a former senior Downing Street aide to Tony Blair, said a completely fresh approach was required by Government to reverse the epidemic of obesity and to tackle similar ills caused by "excess consumption".

In a speech to the Royal Statistical Society last night, Professor Le Grand said instead of requiring people to make healthy choices – by giving up smoking, taking more exercise and eating less salt – policies should be framed so the healthy option is automatic and people have to choose deliberately to depart from it.

Among his suggestions are a proposal for a smoking permit, which smokers would have to produce when buying cigarettes, an "exercise hour" to be provided by all large companies for their employees and a ban on salt in processed food.

The idea, dubbed "libertarian paternalism", reverses the traditional government approach that requires individuals to opt in to healthy schemes. Instead, they would have to opt out to make the unhealthy choice, by buying a smoking permit, choosing not to participate in the exercise hour or adding salt at the table."

Let us consider the professor's suggestion to reduce obesity, namely participation in an exercise hour. - Exercise can be beneficial in many ways, but it has no effect in reducing obesity. - Exercise has nothing to do with preventing obesity - Forget about it! - Obesity is NOT caused by overeating or by inactivity. It is caused by fluid retention, frequently because of taking prescribed medications, especially steroids such as prednisolone, prednisone and HRT, and anti-depressants such as amitriptyline. (When doctors prescribe drugs that cause sodium retention and water retention they should warn the patient not to eat salt, or food containing salt, while taking the medication. When they do not give this warning, the inevitable consequence is considerable weight gain.)

Read here about the groups of people who are vulnerable to salt: vulnerable groups

Obesity can be easily reduced by seriously reducing your salt/sodium intake and eating plenty of fruit and fresh vegetables. - It is important not to restrict calories. - 'Slimming' or 'dieting' is unnecessary, ineffective and harmful.

So you will realise that I am enthusiastically in favour of a ban on salt in processed food. - This is what steroid victims and other salt-sensitive people desperately need.

However, Prof Le Grand, apparently, is advocating the salt ban in order to reduce incidence of high blood pressure - which it would - and not informing people that salt reduction is the fastest, safest, most reliable way of losing excess weight. - If the salt ban were to be implemented, obesity would be reduced, but presumably the reduction would falsely be attributed to the exercise hour!...)o:

But people desperately need to be told the TRUTH!

Also, Professor Le Grand, an excellent way to reduce the incidence of morbid obesity would be to curb the reckless prescribing habits of doctors. - See above.

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors
or adverts - just helpful information.)

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help.

My help is free.

Cigarette sales dropped nearly 7% last month after a smoking ban was introduced in England.

Cigarette sales drop nearly 7% - Guardian

Extract:

"Cigarette sales dropped nearly 7% last month after a smoking ban was introduced in England.

Smokers bought 6.9% fewer cigarettes in the four weeks to July 28 than in the same period last year, according to figures from consumer research group AC Nielsen. Sales were down 1.2% in June, ahead of the ban.

Anti-smoking campaigners ASH welcomed the news. "This is a good sign," a spokeswoman said. "As expected, smokers appear to be cutting back on the number of cigarettes they smoke. We also expect many will use the smoking ban as a trigger to help them quit altogether.""

A bit of welcome good news amid the general gloom...(o;

If you have given up/intend to give up smoking and fear that you will put on weight as a result, here is some further good news for you. - It is easy to lose excess weight by cutting down on salt and salty food. - Lose weight and improve your health by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! - How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

New warning on risks of smoking near babies

Researchers issue new warning on risks of smoking near babies - Guardian

Smokers should be prescribed a drug that triples their chances of giving up, the Government's rationing watchdog, Nice, said yesterday.

NHS to pay for £163 drug to help smokers quit - Telegraph

Extract:

"Smokers should be prescribed a drug that triples their chances of giving up, the Government's rationing watchdog said yesterday.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) said the NHS should pay for twice daily doses of varenicline, sold as Champix, for those who want to quit.

The draft guidelines follow controversy over Nice's decision to reject the drugs Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl for those in the early stages of Alzheimer's. The institute ruled that at £2.50 per day per patient they were not cost-effective.

Champix costs £1.95 per patient per day. Anti-smoking campaigners welcomed Nice's provisional ruling, saying the £163.80 cost to the NHS for each 12-week course would be more than recouped from the NHS's £1.5 billion annual bill for treating diseases caused by smoking.

Others questioned why people who chose to take up smoking should receive help from the public purse to give up when Nice has turned down funding for a number of Alzheimer's and cancer drugs."

I think it would be better to make the drug available to purchase over the counter, rather than have it as a free prescription-only drug.

People who give up smoking often complain that they then gain weight. - Here is help for them. - Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Mediterranean diet reduces risk of lung disease.

Mediterranean diet cuts the risk of lung disease - Independent

It is best to read the whole article because it is very detailed.

Extract:

"Eating a Mediterranean diet rich in fruit and vegetables halves the chances of developing lung disease, researchers have found.

Anti-oxidant vitamins in the foods help to counteract inflammatory processes that damage the lungs, a study shows.

By contrast, nitrites in processed meats, part of the typical Western diet, may contribute to progressive deterioration in lung function with age. Refined foods with a high glycaemic index (such as desserts and sweets) may also promote inflammation.

Serious lung disease is principally caused by smoking and is set to become the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2020, as a result of the rise in smoking in developing nations. It is known by the umbrella term Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which includes bronchitis, emphysema and related conditions. Not all smokers develop the disease, which has led researchers to look for the genetic and environmental factors that offer protection. One of these is diet."


Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Plans to clamp down on the way cigarettes are sold are being considered by the government to protect children's health.

Plans for clamp on teenage smoking - The Observer

Extracts:

"Radical plans to clamp down on the way cigarettes are sold are being considered by the government in an effort to tackle historically high levels of smoking among teenagers.

The blueprint for making cigarettes harder to buy, particularly for young people, have been drawn up by leading doctors and will now be evaluated by the Department of Health.

The sale of packs of 10 cigarettes - attractive to teenagers because they are cheaper - would be banned and cigarettes kept out of sight in shops."

"The far-reaching suggestions from the BMA's board of science are intended to reduce the harm which adult smoking does to children. Its report, 'Breaking the Cycle of Children's Exposure to Tobacco Smoke', stresses that parental smoking has a profound impact on the health of offspring, through inhalation of second-hand smoke, house fires caused by cigarettes and encouraging youngsters to regard smoking as normal. Having parents who smoke increases the chance of young people smoking."

"The measures are intended to reduce what the Treasury has estimated is the 80 billion cigarettes bought in the UK every year and, over time, cut the annual toll of about 112,000 deaths - 70,000 in men and 42,000 in women - linked to smoking. About 1,000 people a day are admitted to hospital in England alone suffering from smoking-related diseases such as cancer, heart disease and respiratory problems.

Although only a quarter of British adults smoke, almost half the country's children are exposed to tobacco smoke at home, according to research by Cancer Research UK, the leading cancer charity. The Royal College of Physicians estimates that more than 17,000 children under five are admitted to hospital every year because of passive smoking."

Reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer, and lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk and webpage http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Smoking while pregnant increases the likelihood of having a girl baby rather than a boy.

Smoking while pregnant raises the likelihood of having a girl - Independent

Extracts:

"Parents who are smokers when they conceive a child are far more likely to have girls than boys, an extensive study by paediatricians has found. The chance of having a male baby drops by almost half if both parents smoke during early pregnancy, amid fresh evidence that smoking could "kill" male foetuses in the womb.

Smoking not only reduces the chances of conceiving a male child, but could stop male embryos implanting in the womb and cause miscarriages.

While almost 52 per cent of all new-born babies are male in the western world, the proportion of female offspring rises dramatically among smokers. The study into 9,000 pregnancies in Liverpool found a startling imbalance in the number of girl babies among parents who smoke.

Mothers who smoked during pregnancy were one-third less likely to have male children than mothers who did not smoke. If the father also smoked, and if factors such as the health and age of the mother were accounted for, the chances of having a male child reduces by almost half.

The research by paediatricians at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has caused excitement in the international scientific community, which says it raises serious questions about the effect of smoking on population balance."

"The research, by a team of paediatricians led by Professor Bernard Brabin, found that substances contained in cigarettes, such as nicotine, inhibit sperm carrying male chromosomes from fertilising eggs."


If you are pregnant, reducing your salt intake is good for your own health and also that of your baby-to-be. - See pregnant mothers

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)