Do you know why we can’t quit smoking?

Prof. Know Why answers:

We all know and probably believe the health risks associated with smoking tobacco. Even though, the smokers find it really difficult to quit smoking, no matter how hard they try! The nonsmokers would obviously say that the smokers never actually give a serious effort to kick the puff or there’s always a lack of will.

But now, there’s an answer to why people can’t quit smoking, easily. It has been proven through scientific research that someone’s unsuccessful attempts to stop smoking a hundred times over, reasons to the proteins in the brain.

A genetic study of 14,000 people in Europe and the US has shown that variations in segments of two proteins that serve as gateways for nicotine entry into brain cells can predict the risk of addiction. The study by US and Canadian scientists has shown that people with specific gene sequence coding for these proteins are more likely to be addicted to nicotine than people whose sequences are subtly different. The two proteins called “alpha-3” and “alpha-5” form sites on brain cells which are activated during the process of addiction. The findings were published recently in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Previous studies from Australia, North America, Scandinavia and China had indicated that the tendency for habitual heavy smoking (up to 20 cigarettes a day), was influenced by the genetic makeup. Researchers had then estimated that two-thirds of the risk of heavy smoking is genetic – believed to be a combination of several genes.

In the new study, the American-Canadian team found that variations in alpha-3 and alpha-5 could be used to predict the number of cigarettes per day during the period of heaviest smoking. This study has also provided the strongest statistical evidence – although there is no evidence for this yet – that people with certain variations in the alpha-3 and alpha-5 genes might find it easier to quit smoking than others.

So until the pharmaceutical companies come up with the new drugs based on the study that could help quit smoking, the smokers can carry on puffing to glory, blaming it all on the brain proteins.

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