Smoking Has Greatest Negative Impact on Immune System: Study Finds

Researchers stated this after investigating the effect of more than a hundred environmental factors on the immune system. Smoking emerged as the biggest culprit.

While one person crawls into bed sick at the first autumn wind, the other happily walks among coughing colleagues without anything being wrong. How susceptible people are to infections and other immune system-related problems varies greatly from person to person. This is due to a combination of factors, including genetic predisposition, age, gender and environmental factors.

Because you have relatively little influence on things such as your genetic predisposition and age, researchers at… Pastor Institute to see what influence environmental factors have on the way your immune system functions. The researchers hoped to find new starting points to improve our health and prevent diseases.

Environmental factors
To this end, the researchers examined the effects of no fewer than 136 environmental factors on the immune response in a thousand people. These are lifestyle factors such as smoking, exercise and stress, but also socio-economic factors, medication use, previous infections, etc. The researchers also measured the immune response of the participants using a blood test to measure the levels of various cytokines. Proteins that are released when the body encounters a pathogen and that therefore play a crucial role in the immune system. The researchers then determined the associations between the environmental factors and the immune response using statistical analyses.

Long-term impact on immune system
It showed that smoking had the greatest negative impact on both your innate defenses – a general defense against invaders that you possess from birth – and your acquired defenses, which you acquire during your life and are aimed at more specific pathogens. The effects of smoking on innate immunity, such as an increased inflammatory response, appear to be only temporary and disappear after quitting smoking. But the effects on acquired immunity are much more persistent. Even years after putting out the last cigarette, levels of certain cytokines remain disrupted in smokers, the study shows. And that can have serious consequences. After all, a disrupted immune system also responds less well to infections and other immunological problems.

BMI and cytomegalovirus also play a role
In addition to smoking, the researchers also found indications that your body mass index (BMI) and a cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection influence the release of cytokines. CMV is a common virus that usually does not cause any complaints, but can cause health problems in some people. However, the effects of BMI and CMV on the immune system turned out to be much smaller than those of smoking.

Quitting smoking pays off
The research therefore confirms once again how important it is to quit smoking. Not only for your lungs, but also for your entire immune system. Professor Chris Bullen, non-involved scientist at the University of Auckland, agrees in his response to the study: “The good news is that most changes in the immune system are reversible when people stop smoking. This new information could be just the motivation people need to finally say goodbye to cigarettes.”

However, Bullen emphasizes that quitting smoking is not easy. “Smoking is not only deadly, it is also addictive and tobacco is far too readily available for such a harmful product. That is why we need supportive measures that make smoking less addictive, less accessible and less acceptable.” He advocates maintaining the current smoke-free policy, which, among other things, sets stricter rules on the nicotine content in tobacco, limits the number of points of sale and prohibits sales to future generations.

2024-02-17 18:06:31
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