Nicotine helps people with Parkinson's

[The Straight Story]

Coffee drinking too, seems to protect against Parkinson's disease. Here the pooled estimate is a 30% reduction in risk for coffee drinkers compared with non-drinkers.
.....

Like caffeine, nicotine has been found to reduce MPTP-induced dopaminergic toxicity in animal models of Parkinson's disease.910 One mechanism underlying this protective action may be its ability to increase the expression of neurotrophic factors that are known to promote survival of dopaminergic neurons.9 But tobacco contains numerous other chemicals whose influence on biological processes may play a part. Smoking causes a reduction in activity of monoamine oxidase A and B, for example, which might protect against neuronal damage by inhibiting the enzymatic oxidation of dopamine.11

One unachieved goal in the treatment of Parkinson's disease is preventing it getting worse. If, as the epidemiological evidence implies, caffeine and nicotine are neuroprotective, some of the new pharmacological treatments currently being developed, such as adenosine A2A receptor blockers and nicotinic agonists, might not only improve symptoms but slow the relentless progression of the disease.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1125458

[MADem]

1. OOOPS, well, no smokin' em if ya got 'em...you'll just have to make do with a patch!

Jeez, good thing the tabaccy companies didn't know this back in the fifties...the commercials would have written themselves!

[The Straight Story]

2. We need Michael J Fox to do a smoking commercial :)

"After listening to Rush I started smoking, and I have never been better. Vote yes on Chesterfields!"

[tridim]

3. Nicotine certainly needs more study

Especially the nicotine salts in lozenges and gum. Everything I've read says it's very safe. The problem is, the lozenges are criminally overpriced because the drug companies have a monopoly.

A few weeks ago I searched The Google for sources of raw Nicotine Polacrilex (to possibly make my own lozenges) and it's very cheap, but individuals can't buy it. People have tried to sell nicotine candy in the past and it was made ILLEGAL a few years ago. No doubt because of the Big-Pharm lobby's deep pockets.

Some might not consider this a big issue, but it really is. Smoking sucks, and if there is a way to get the drug to people who want to quit cheaply and safely, I'm all for it.

[The Straight Story]

4. Indeed

I wonder how this works in other countries? Do they have the same problem with access to nicotine?

[tridim]

5. There are a few Chinese companies that sell it, but I assume..

That there would be all kinds of import and customs regulations since it's a chemical that is apparently illegal to posses in the US.

[Spangle]

6. Wow! I didn't know that!

Isn't part of the smoking dangers comes from the other cemicals that is put into the cigs when it's either being grown or processed? Those that make it mroe habit forming?

[janx]

8. Not part of--almost ALL of.

Nicotene is the drug people get addicted to while smoking, but it isn't necessarily harmful in itself. So if you give people nicotene via a patch, for instance, their lungs can begin to repair. There's also the psychological addiction to cigarettes though, and that can trigger a relapse even after someone has been clean of cigs for months. (Take it from one who knows...) ;-)

Oh, by the way...Nicotene patches make for some very unusual dreams if you wear them at night.

[GirlinContempt]

12. Well... it is poisionous

pretty easy to kill someone with.

[Spangle]

13. LoL! So do I

It's addictive on so many different levels. That is why it's so hard to break. I remember one of the times I had quit. Been off of them for 2 years. Was visting 'old friends' who lived in the exact same place, laughing and having fun.. Reached down on the coffee table for my smokes. THAT just blew my mind!

[tridim]

14. I don't know why people call patch dreams an undesirable side-effect

When I was on the patch I always looked forward to the crazy lucid dreams. They were almost always fun, and sometimes extremely fun if you know what I mean.

I quit the patches and went to lozenges because I felt leaving them on at night was counterproductive since I was never someone who woke up at night for a cig. I miss the dreams though.

[NuttyFluffers]

7. i'm reminded of the Woody Allen movie, Sleeper.

where cigarettes, prime rib, and chocolate pudding were the epitome of health food stuffs. maybe he was more prescient than he thought... ;)

[American Jesus]

9. I would seriously question the validity of this research.

It's no state secret that Michael J. Fox started smoking when he was a teenager. It obviously didn't help him any.

[The Straight Story]

10. He didn't smoke enough :)

But I am sure it did not mean 100% of the time anyway. I read there were 30 studies done on this so far.

[Bluebear]

11. When did he quit?

I think that would be interesting to know vis a vis this study.