HEADLINES

• Secrets of a longer life
• Link identified between quitting heavy smoking and depression
• Blow to NHS healthy lifestyle push
• Ireland: Smoking ban is for the kids
• New Zealand: Fewer prison fires since smoking ban
• USA: Tobacco companies spending less on promoting cigarettes, more on smokeless tobacco
• The opera that needs a government health warning

• Secrets of a longer life

  
  Britons can add up to 15 years to their lives by following a simple four-step plan, a study revealed yesterday.

  Not smoking, regular exercise, not being overweight and eating a Mediterranean-style diet could “substantially reduce” the risk of early death.

  
  A major study, conducted over 25 years by researchers at Holland’s Maastricht University, monitored the lifestyle choices and death rates of 12,000 men and women aged between 55 and 69. The results showed that women in particular stand to gain from a healthy lifestyle and could live for up to 15 more years.  Men and women who made it to their 65th birthdays could expect to live for another 17.6 years and 20.2 years respectively.
  Source: Daily Express, 03 August 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/r9ymPC

• Link identified between quitting heavy smoking and depression

  Findings from a brain imaging study may provide clues for why some individuals with heavy cigarette-smoking habits experience depressed mood upon withdrawal from smoking, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

   "The main hypothesis of this study," the authors explain, "is that the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO-A), which metabolizes mood-enhancing chemicals, increases during acute cigarette withdrawal."

   

  Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto conducted a study of 24 healthy, non-smoking individuals and 24 otherwise healthy cigarette-smoking individuals. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans were performed and participants also completed an assessment of their mood, energy level, anxiety level and urge to smoke.

   

  An elevation in MAO-A density during cigarette withdrawal was found in the heavy-smoking subgroup but not the moderate-smoking subgroup. In heavy-smoking individuals, researchers noticed a change in depressed mood self-report between the withdrawal day and the active smoking day.

   

  "These results have significant implications for quitting heavy smoking and for understanding what has previously appeared to be a paradoxical association of cigarette smoking with major depressive disorder and suicide," state the authors.
  Source: Science Daily, 02 August 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/obk9Bh

• Blow to NHS healthy lifestyle push

  An initiative to tackle health problems in the most deprived areas has been scrapped. The National Support Team network was created in 2006 to tackle health inequalities and support areas struggling with a range of public health problems.

  But the 10 teams in the network were axed in March this year, adding to the mounting concern about the government's focus on public health.

   

  Dr Frank Atherton, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, said: "There is a lot of disappointment they were disbanded. They were fantastic and it seems likely there will need to be something else to replace them."

  
  The Department of Health said addressing health inequalities was still a priority, adding that the support teams had been effective but the approach was now changing by "shifting power to a local level".
  Source: BBC online, 03 August 2011
  Link: http://bbc.in/pEk4ru

• Ireland: Smoking ban is for the kids

  In an opinion piece, former smoker Patrick Logues explains why he supports the Irish government's plans to ban smoking in cars with children.

  When the idea of banning smoking in cars was first suggested, I thought to myself it was nothing short of the long arm of government attempting to interfere in my life. Since then, however, I’ve been observing many motorists and have been struck by the sheer number of stupid, ignorant, irresponsible people who think it’s just fine to smoke when their still-developing children are beside them. So this time around, I’m fully supportive of Minister for Health James Reilly’s plan.

  A car ban where children are present would send out the right message: it is not okay to harm your children. Such bans have worked in Queensland, Western Australia, Newfoundland and British Columbia, as well as many states in the US.  To those who say such a ban would be unworkable, I point to the roaring success of the workplace smoking ban. To those who propose a ban on smoking by lone drivers, however, I say that would be a step too far.

  Source: Irish Times, 03 August 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/nJOPHx

• New Zealand: Fewer prison fires since smoking ban

  Prisoners have been lighting fewer fires than usual since the smoking ban began in New Zealand prisons a month ago, a Department of Corrections spokesman says.

  Only four fires were lit last month compared to 14 in June and eight in May. Department of Corrections spokesman Brendan Anstiss said the decreased number reflected the impact the smoking ban was having. "Fires are dangerous in prison," he said, "they put staff and prisoners and the public at risk so eliminating the easy ability for prisoners to light fires with lighters and matches was one of the main reasons behind this policy."
   
  All prisons were made smoke-free on 1 July this year. According to Anstiss 180 contraband items related to tobacco had been confiscated since then, including lighters, matches, cigarettes and tobacco and nearly 6000 prisoners had signed up for some form of nicotine replacement therapy.
   
  Anstiss added "Some prisoners have said 'this is a good thing, I wouldn't be able to do it without this policy', and very few prisoners have said 'this is going to be the end of the world for me'."
   
   
  Source: Snuff.co.nz, 01 August 2011
  Link: http://bit.ly/oVDH3m

• USA: Tobacco companies spending less on promoting cigarettes, more on smokeless tobacco

  The nation’s top tobacco companies are spending less money on cigarette advertising and promotion and more money on promoting smokeless tobacco products, according to the latest data from the Federal Trade Commission.

  The data mirrors an industry trend as tobacco companies look to cigarette alternatives such as smokeless tobacco products for future sales growth as tax hikes, smoking bans, health concerns and social stigma make the cigarette business tougher.

   

  Figures released by the federal agency late Friday show cigarette marketing decreased more than 34 percent in 2008, compared with 2003. According to the federal data, the amount cigarette companies spent on advertisements directed to reduce youth smoking fell 84 percent to only $11.5 million. In contrast, money spent on marketing smokeless tobacco products more than doubled to $547.9 million.
  Source: Washington Post, 01 August 2011
  Link: http://wapo.st/r9I84o

• The opera that needs a government health warning

  Music critic Michael White reviews a new opera about a smoker.

  "Susanna’s secret, he writes "and the plot device that drives the whole piece, is that she smokes."

  
  "It’s not a great work, and I can’t pretend it was a great show; but it acquired memorability of sorts in that before curtain-up the audience was given a firm warning that Kendal Town Hall operates a strict no-smoking policy."

   

  The singers weren't allowed to smoke during the performance, because of the risk that smoke would activate the automatic sprinkler systems.

   

  "So when characters appeared onstage and sang about the smell of cigarettes, it had to be pretence. Or in the parlance of the theatre world, performance. Valuable experience for the young performers taking part. I hope they learned from it."
  Source: The Telegraph, 02 August 2011
  Link: http://tgr.ph/niZOUg