Herbal News Magazine

Everyone knows that smoking cigarettes, cigars and other things you inhale hot smoke into your lungs with are dangerous to your health. That has definitely been more than established by the medical community.  As if to drive the point home even further, the Center for Disease Control has released their top death causes list.

And guess what?  The top three causes are related in some way to smoking. That’s not to say there are not other factors involved such as genetics, other lifestyle choices and environmental factors. However, each of them can have a direct relation to the act of smoking. Which makes quitting smoking all that much more important.

3 Smoking-Related Causes of Death

1.)  Emphysema and other lung function disease such as COPD.  This one is one of the most undeniably smoking-related health issues that can lead to death pretty easily.  Aside from lung cancer, it is a definite link to smoking – although, as with everything else, it can also happen on its own without smoking, but that is pretty rare and the link is a well known one.

2.) Cancer.  There are several types of cancer that are related to smoking. Cigarettes are a carcinogen. Not only does the smoke produce toxic by-products, but the cigarettes themselves contain harmful chemicals that permeate not only the lungs and other organs in the body, but also the surfaces of furniture, the walls in homes, the surfaces in cars, and everywhere else the harmful habit is done, making it carcinogenic not only to the smoker, but also to “second hand smokers”.  Basically, cigarette smoke is a cancer causing agent, and for that reason, it has been linked to everything from breast cancer to prostate cancer.

3.) Heart disease.  Heart disease can be partially genetic, true. It can also be greatly attributed to your diet and lack of exercise. However, smoking is also another acknowledged risk factor in determining likelihood of heart disease. Your ticker is affected by smoking because smoking raises heart rate and also increases blood pressure and stress levels, all of which are not heart friendly and cause damage over the years.

Smoking generally makes the smoker feel relaxed in the very moments they are smoking (and gives them a feel-good buzz too, hence the addictiveness). However, this is misleading because in the end smoking really jacks our nervous system up and increases dangerous anxiety and stress hormone levels, none of which is good for the heart.

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Vitamins and nutritional supplements are items we take to improve our health so we should have some common sense in how we use them.  Storage should be noted on the label of your vitamins and supplements. 

Most vitamin labels say to keep them tightly sealed and to store in a cool dry place.  Read your label to see what kind of storage applies to your vitamins and supplements and comply with what is recommended.

Pay attention to what kind of vitamins you are taking to determine if you should take yours with just water or eat some food with it.  The recommendation for taking a multivitamin is to take them with a meal. 

The reasoning behind this is that most of the fat soluble vitamins, which are vitamins A,D,E and K, are absorbed better when they are taken together with some fat, you could even pair it with an omega 3 supplement, since this is fat.  The other logic behind this practice is that it will reduce stomach upset. 

Do not expect to get benefits from your vitamins if your diet is poor.  There is no substitute for eating a healthful diet with lean protein sources, lots of fruits and vegetables and whole grains.  A vitamin pill will not improve your health and immunity to disease without eating a quality healthy diet.

The concept that more is better does not apply to vitamin supplementation.  Overdoing one particular vitamin or mineral can actually harm your health.  Taking a multivitamin is usually preferred to singling out just one vitamin in large doses.  Staying within the normal range of the RDA printed on the label is the usual recommendation.

For all of your health care needs, you should inform your health care professionals of any and all vitamins and supplements you are taking.  A lot of people think that vitamins and supplements are not medications, so they feel there is no need to mention them. 

This is not the case.  For an example of the importance of this communication, a high dose of fish oil can inhibit blood clotting.  This medical fact could be very important if you’re given an anticoagulant such as Coumadin or if you need any surgical procedure. 

Another reason this is important is that vitamins and supplements can interfere with how effective prescribed medication will be.  If your physician doesn’t know about your vitamins or supplements, it could have harmful consequences.

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