Study: How smoking rots your brain

There are 3 million smokers in Australia and 70% say they want to quit. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

SMOKING is known to be highly damaging to physical health, being a major factor in cancer and heart disease.

Now, however, its alarming effects on the mental well-being of millions of smokers have been outlined by scientists in the UK.

Lighting up regularly has been associated with a sharp decline in the performance of the brain, according to their study.

They found that middle-aged smokers performed worse on tests compared with those without the tobacco habit.

The project examined memory, planning and overall mental ability after four and eight years. The tests included asking people to learn new words or name as many animals as they could in a minute.

Researchers concluded that smoking "consistently" reduced all three performance measures after four years.

They also found that high blood pressure and being overweight took their toll of brainpower - but not as much as smoking.

There are 3 million smokers in Australia and 70% say they want to quit. Every year, about 19,000 Australians die from diseases caused by smoking and one in two lifetime smokers will die from their addiction.

This study examined risk factor data for more than 8,800 people aged 50 and over who were taking part in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. The researchers at King's College London were investigating links between the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke and the state of the brain.

Recent laboratory research suggested a compound in tobacco called NNK provokes white blood cells in the central nervous system to attack healthy cells, leading to severe neurological damage.

Dr Simon Ridley, of Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "Research has repeatedly linked smoking and high blood pressure to a greater risk of cognitive decline and dementia. This study adds weight to that.

"Cognitive decline as we age can develop into dementia, and unravelling the factors linked to this decline could be crucial for finding ways to prevent the condition."

Jessica Smith, of the Alzheimer"s Society, said: "We all know smoking, a high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a high Body Mass Index is bad for our heart.

"This adds to the huge amount of evidence that also suggests they can be bad for our head too."

On 1 December 2012, Australia will be the first country in the world to introduce plain packaging legislation. The aim is to reduce the number of smokers in Australia.

Will you give up smoking on December 1? Tell us below

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