Smoking is... good?

[Goemon_]

Well, here is an excerpt of the "DIRECTIVE 2001/37/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 5 June 2001" (_http://ec.europa.eu/health//sites/health/files/tobacco/docs/dir200137ec_tobaccoproducts_en.pdf):

Article 6
Further product information
1. Member States shall require manufacturers and importers
of tobacco products to submit to them a list of all ingredients,
and quantities thereof, used in the manufacture of those
tobacco products by brand name and type.

And actualy there is much more info than what was on the package before.

An example of info received in France with Winston Selected tobacco blend: Product: Fine-Cut Tobacco, 35g Tin, here: _http://www.lne.fr/composition-tabac/extras/bd/detail_produit.php?id=194

 

[Esote]

Interesting, Goemon. But the data provided is from 2013. Not sure that this is still available, since the manufacturer doesn't provide indications for its products anymore...

 

[Voyageur]

Was driving along today and turned on the radio only to hear a talk on smoking; it was really hard to listen to, very biased, however, one of the speakers was a CE of the tobacco giant, Phillip Morris. Here is the gist of where he was going with his talk. Other speakers want to annihilate smoking for the usual reasons:

Thursday February 09, 2017

Big Tobacco's Philip Morris says it's quitting cigarettes. Critics doubt it

One of the world's largest tobacco companies says it is doing the unimaginable -— quitting cigarettes. Tobacco control advocates, however, are skeptical it will ever happen.

André Calantzopoulos, chief executive of Philip Morris International, says he wants to move the company toward producing less toxic product such as e-cigarettes and cigarette alternatives. But he has not yet put a timetable on when the company will stop selling cigarettes.

Here is the link for the rest of the talk: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-february-9-2017-1.3972476/big-tobacco-s-philip-morris-says-it-s-quitting-cigarettes-critics-doubt-it-1.3972540

 

[Palinurus]

Thanks fort sharing voyageur but I'm afraid it's rather old news from October last year and quite misleading too. I did some googling and found out they just want to replace the conventional cigarettes with their newly developed, still tobacco based alternative smoking system called Iqos which heats tobacco sticks electronically while not 'vaping' the stuff.

Some sources:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-24/in-marlboro-country-a-big-money-race-for-the-new-smoke
http://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2050801/tobacco-giant-philip-morris-may-quit-making-cigarettes-soon
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38152297

 

[Voyageur]

Thanks fort sharing voyageur but I'm afraid it's rather old news from October last year and quite misleading too. I did some googling and found out they just want to replace the conventional cigarettes with their newly developed, still tobacco based alternative smoking system called Iqos which heats tobacco sticks electronically while not 'vaping' the stuff.

Some sources:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-24/in-marlboro-country-a-big-money-race-for-the-new-smoke
http://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2050801/tobacco-giant-philip-morris-may-quit-making-cigarettes-soon
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38152297

Yeah, it was the first I had heard the Igos term/process used. As for being misleading, yes, the whole discussion was this way, and can't remember just one interview/talk on smoking (other than on SoTT) whereby an opposing view, the opposing science was allowed to enter the discourse. In reality, something like greater than three decades at least have passed and their Teflon coated anti-smoking message has been vigorously maintained and blindly supported at every turn. Whole anti-smoking organizations, the zealous individuals, get up each day spending their lives and work living and breathing in the promotion of scientific lies (many examples in other areas of life). Whole generations born have never heard an opposing view, have grown up never reading or hearing anything other than smoking is evil - not one benefit has been welcomed news.

In short, thanks to the laws that require uniform packaging, 'they' have conveniently created the legal basis to eradicate natural tobacco. This, in a funny twisted way, would make the grotesque images on the packages true: Smoking (with evil enough additives) can create cancer.

:(

Packaging is bad enough here, yet the natural tobacco message has not yet been done away with. It seems (if those examples were European), they really locked away any possible organic or natural message down. Sad indeed.

 

[Kosma]

Yes packets became much less elegant recently. And no more tasty variants like my favourite Djarums :/

Do you care somehow about coughing in the mornig next day after even only one cigarette?
There were a lot of commercials of medical preparatios for such symptomps in recent years (strange untrusted medicals I think). Is coughing a result of bad cigarettes, bad filters(someone prefers coal-based ones?) bad health or maybe just lungs are cleansing beacuase of pollution around?

 

[Kosma]

I feel like I've asked about some trivial matters that have been already covered -if that's so, just let me know

 

[goyacobol]

Yes packets became much less elegant recently. And no more tasty variants like my favourite Djarums :/

Do you care somehow about coughing in the mornig next day after even only one cigarette?
There were a lot of commercials of medical preparatios for such symptomps in recent years (strange untrusted medicals I think). Is coughing a result of bad cigarettes, bad filters(someone prefers coal-based ones?) bad health or maybe just lungs are cleansing beacuase of pollution around?

Korma,

I only smoke organic tobacco and sometimes I think it is the loosening up of pollution or other toxins that produces the occasional cough or phlegm. I think there other comments here if you do a search on reactions from different people. Some people swear by natural rolling papers etc. so I am sure others have suggestions and opinions. It's difficult to catch up on the larger topics so you may need to do more reading to find some of the answers. And the Cs say that smoking is not for everyone and there are genetic factors that can influence whether smoking is good for you depending on your genetics.

 

[Kosma]

In other words, cough or phlegm might be very individual aspect of smoking. Maybe some kind of poll might give more insight :P.

Cs say that smoking is not for everyone

yes, I remember they've also mentioned that one who can easily drop smoking at any time (less "addictive" persons) in fact may not benefit from smoking at all. Well, I will have to look if that's not my case.

 

[goyacobol]

In other words, cough or phlegm might be very individual aspect of smoking. Maybe some kind of poll might give more insight :P.

Cs say that smoking is not for everyone

yes, I remember they've also mentioned that one who can easily drop smoking at any time (less "addictive" persons) in fact may not benefit from smoking at all. Well, I will have to look if that's not my case.

That would be good I think. There is no need to smoke unless you see some benefit. I personally quit for 25 years or so and only started again because I do see some benefits that may be protective in nature. I do think I require less sleep, have more focus and less stress when smoking. I also think some studies indicate there are anti-viral/anti-bacterial properties to tobacco but that is just my current assessment.

This is probably one of the worst times in history to decide to smoke with all the anti-tobacco hysteria. It was controlled and discouraged in Germany, 1933-45 as I mentioned previously in this thread here.

 

[SlavaOn]

Through Google search, I found an interesting book "Tobacco Use by Native North Americans: Sacred Smoke and Silent Killer" many chapters of which could be read online on Google books https://books.google.com/books?id=UGI4hxx6mTQC&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=treat+eye+with+tobacco&source=bl&ots=i8EXOSLVdH&sig=edR4Q7d2RDhdvUmuXSS2w-BFtOo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjC1pS00urSAhVBHWMKHaLbD3sQ6AEIWDAM#v=onepage&q=treat%20eye%20with%20tobacco&f=false

The list of chapters extracted for indexing purposes, so it would come in searches:

Traditional Uses of Tobacco by Native Americans
Nicotiana rustica type known as punche de mexicano
Huichol Indian child harvesting commercial N tabacum
Navajo man pruning mountain tobacco N attenuata
Native North American groups using tobacco
Eskimo woman smoking a traditional pipe
Cree Indians and Hudsons Bay Company workers with tobacco carrot
N rustica patch on the Tonawanda Seneca Reservation
Seneca Chief Cornplanters tobacco N rustica
Arikara man with seven calumets i Tlingit hunter smoking a pipe
Phoebe Maddux wearing a Karuk hat of a type also used as a tobacco basket
Southern Ute men with Plainsstyle pipes and pipe bags
N rustica at Jemez Pueblo New Mexico
N rustica field at San Juan Pueblo Agricultural Cooperative New Mexico
Lacandon Maya woman smoking an N tabacum cigar
Tarahumara N tabacum Chihuahua Mexico
Zuni man smoking a ceremonial cigarette
Botanical Description of the North American Tobacco Species
Phylogeny of tobacco species used by native North Americans
Subfamilies tribes and genera in the Solanaceae family
Natural distribution of the three subgenera of wild tobacco
Nicotiana tabacum
Mopan Maya N tabacum
Mexican N tabacum with Huichol Indian child laborers
Evolutionary geography of the cultivated tobaccos
Areas of native North American use of N tabacum
N rustica grown from seed from Santo Domingo Pueblo New Mexico lo\n N rustica var pavonii lo\n
Largeleafed Iroquois N rustica
Areas of native North American use of N rustica
Blossom variations among tobacco species used by Native Americans
Micrographs of seeds of various tobacco taxa
N glauca tree tobacco
Areas of native North American use of N glauca
N attenuata
Areas of native North American use of N attenuata
N quadrivalvis var bigelovii
Areas of native North American use of N quadrivalvis
N quadrivalvis var multivalvis
N clevelandii
Natural range of N develandii
N trigonophylla
Natural range of N trigonophylla
Cultural Geography of Western North American Tobacco
Meriwether Lewis
Drawing of N multivalvis
N quadrivalvis var multivalvis grown from seeds collected by ElihuHall ii
Geographic distribution of N attenuata
Geographic distribution of N develandii and N trigonophylla
Geographic distribution of N glauca and N acuminata
Tobacco Use Ecology and Manipulation in the
Prehistoric Seeds of seven southwestern U S Nicotiana species
Seeds of four native southwestern U
S Nicotiana species
Seeds of two domesticated and one likely introduced Nicotiana species
Archaic and Basketmaker sites with Nicotiana remains
Pueblo I sites with Nicotiana remains
Pueblo IIIII sites with Nicotiana remains
Late Pueblo sites with Nicotiana remains
Nicotiana in late Pueblo and late Classic Hohokam sites
Historic sites with Nicotiana remains
Nicotiana in historic sites
Historical Use Ethnographic Accounts
Distribution of aboriginal tobacco on the Great Plains
Great Plains sites with archaeological tobacco
Archaeological tobacco on the Great Plains
Dottle residue from a sandstone pipe
Tobacco in Prehistoric Eastern North America
Descriptions of Nicotiana and Solanum seeds
Sizes of charred prehistoric eastern tobacco seeds
Distribution of archaeological tobacco across eastern North America
Distribution of archaeological tobacco in the confluence area
Archaeological tobacco in eastern North America
Archaeological contexts and associations for eastern U S tobacco seeds
Floor distribution of Zea ways pollen
Floor distribution of Nicotiana pollen
Pollen recovered from an unburned cigarette and from chewing tobacco
Morphological Studies of New Mexico Solanaceae Pollen i i
Examples of New Mexico Solanaceae pollen grains
Polar length of Solanaceae pollen in micrometers
Equatorial width of Solanaceae pollen in micrometers
PE index for Solanaceae pollen
Polar area measurements for Solanaceae pollen
Polar area index for Solanaceae pollen
Discriminant index scores by six and seven variables
Results of cluster analysis for the New
Mexico Solanaceae
Morphological key to genera of Solanaceae
Morphological Distinctiveness of
Nicotiana Pollen and Distribution of Solanaceae species in the greater Southwest
Datura quercifolia D innoxia D meteloides
Nicandra physalodes Hyoscyamus niger
Saracha procumbens
Capsicum annuum
Capsicum baccatum Physalis acutifolia
Physalis hederaefolia Solarium douglasii S
jamesii
Solarium fendleri Chamaesaracha conioides
Chamaesaracha coronops Margaranthus solanaceus
Salpichroa organifolia
Cestrum flavescens Petunia parviflora
Lycium andersonii L pallidum L torreyi
L pallidum L torreyi Z SEM and LM photos Nicotiana attenuata
Pollen key Distribution of Solanaceae species in New Mexico
Distribution of Solanaceae species in Utah
Evolution of the Use of Tobacco by Native Americans
Navajo Sky Father and Earth
Mother with sacred plants
Mountain tobacco growing in front of a Navajo hogan
Non-Nicotiana species used as tobacco by the Navajo
Huichol Indian child laborer drinking water from a pesticide container
Grandfather Fire in a yarn painting by Mariano Valadez
The first tobacco growing from the grave of Sky Womans daughter
Crow Indian tobacco garden
Martha Bad Warrior holding the White Buffalo Calf Pipe of the Lakota
Captain John at the Hupa village of Medildin
CihuacoatI the Aztec earth goddess
Biochemistry Addiction and the Development
Examples of how native North American spirits crave tobacco
Ranges of wild and domesticated Native American tobaccos in North America
Number of tobacco taxa used by native North Americans
Nicotine frequencies of native North American tobacco taxa
Nicotine nornicotine and anabasine in tobacco species used by native North Americans
Nicotine and alkaloids in North American tobacco species not used by Native Americans
Alkaloids in domesticated tobacco species
Sequence of development of native North American use of tobacco
Past and Present
Risks of major disease categories causally related to cigarettes
Selected surveys of cigarette smoking among American Indians Figures
Mortality rates for respiratory causes of death American Indians and Alaska Natives
Average annual cancer incidence rates
The Huichol Indians Tobacco and Pesticides
Yarn tabla by Jose Benitez Sanchez and Tutukila Carrillo
A Huichol priests tobacco gourd
Pesticideand tobaccointoxicated Huichols
Deer Persons Gift or Columbus's Curse?
Canadian First Nations smoking rates
Canadian smoking rates
Smoking rates in the United States whites and all races combined
Diffusion of trade tobacco to North American tribes
Sources of Native Americans tobacco in the eastern woodlands
Use of traditional tobacco by Native American prison inmates
Association of cardinal directions with other features in Navajo religion
Native American lung cancer mortality in the United States
Male and female lung cancer rates U S population
Lung cancer mortality rates for Native Americans in selected states
Indian Health Service area
Mortality rates for selected smoking related causes of death
Native American cigarette smoking among adults
Smoking rates of Native Americans in Washington Oregon and Idaho
Smoking rates of Native Americans in the western north-central and south-central United States
How Coyote Learned

SlavaOn

 

[Voyageur]

Through Google search, I found an interesting book "Tobacco Use by Native North Americans: Sacred Smoke and Silent Killer" many chapters of which could be read online on Google books https://books.google.com/books?id=UGI4hxx6mTQC&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=treat+eye+with+tobacco&source=bl&ots=i8EXOSLVdH&sig=edR4Q7d2RDhdvUmuXSS2w-BFtOo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjC1pS00urSAhVBHWMKHaLbD3sQ6AEIWDAM#v=onepage&q=treat%20eye%20with%20tobacco&f=false

The list of chapters extracted for indexing purposes, so it would come in searches:

[...]

SlavaOn

It's interesting indeed. Thanks.

The author, Joseph C. Winter, has had his name (and book) used in citing anti-tobacco work out of Ontario, Canada for the Native population - citing the usual cooked up numbers on disease and mortality rates caused by smoking and how to honor the traditional (non commercial) plant (Cancercare _https://www.cancercare.on.ca/common/pages/UserFile.aspx?fileId=31729)

There is also this 374 page 'Tobacco in History and Culture' - AN ENCYCLOPEDIA (pdf) that some might find interesting (with the added Cancer Prevention leaning) _http://www.cpcca.com.ar/tool_box/TobaccoInHistoryVol2.pdf

Came across something while searching that was not expected, which concerns the subject of smoking in Islam (or some who are trying to make religious decrees banning it). This is from 'Tobacco Asia - the only magazine written and edited for the Asian regional tobacco industry' it says. Within was an article - This is from Sudan, yet it will have people angry:

_http://www.tobaccoasia.com/news/tobacco-not-allowed-in-islam/


'Tobacco Not Allowed in Islam'

March 20, 2017

SUDAN
The head of the Sudan Scholars Corporation has issued a religious decree banning tobacco.

Sheikh Mohamed Osman Saleh, head of the Sudanese Scholars said that tobacco is forbidden in Islam as the use of tobacco is no less dangerous and evil than the use of drugs. He also demanded that the Sudanese security apparatus combat the cultivation, sale, and use of tobacco in all parts of the country.

When asked about the donation of the North Darfur government of 10,000 tons of tobacco in support of the ruling National Congress Party, the sheikh said the gift consisted of various in-kind materials. He accused the Sudanese media of highlighting the tobacco item, “for the purpose of creating sensation and chaos.”

Rashid Ismail, former North Darfur government adviser on economic affairs, told reporters in Khartoum that “the fierce attack against tobacco trade in the country has led to the idea that it is something abnormal” and that “the recent campaign against tobacco is probably intended to hit the Darfur economy. It will put the livelihoods of 900,000 Darfuris at stake”.

Will have to see how that plays out - it's not going to go over well.

 

[Keyhole]

Smoking appears to increase thyroid function:

Cigarettes and the HPT axis

The HPT axis maintains thyroid hormone production and disruption of this axis can result in either hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. Serum TSH levels are lower, whereas T3 and T4 levels are higher, in smokers versus non-smokers [9] and in both active smokers and passive smokers [10,11]. This suggests that there is a stimulatory effect of cigarette smoke exposure on thyroid hormone release, with resultant suppression of TSH. This may have important clinical relevance when making the already difficult evaluation and management of smokers with subclinical hyperthyroidism. Multiple studies have shown that there is a lower prevalence of thyroid auto-antibodies in smokers compared with nonsmokers [11,12] and smokers have lower rates of hypothyroidism [13].

source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3389568/

This fits in with Gaby's clinical experience seeing people who quit smoking and suddenly fall into a clinically hypothyroid state. It seems that, for people with sub-optimal thyroid function, smoking gives the body a 'boost' to produce more thyroid hormone, or perhaps increases the effectiveness/availability of thyroid hormone.

It also fits in with my own experience, and I have often wondered why I smoke as many as I do when compared with other people. Now I am suspecting (along with other indicators such as: low internal body temps, perpetually cold hands and feet, reliance on stress hormones, and dry skin/dandruff) that thyroid function is poor, hence there is some reliance on smoking to maintain a level of metastability.

It brings to memory what the C's said about smoking in a session years ago. Something along the lines of "Smoking increases metabolism", coupled with the statement that Laura's thyroid was tampered with, and that it was beneficial for her specifically to smoke.

 

[Keyhole]

Smoking appears to increase thyroid function:

Cigarettes and the HPT axis

The HPT axis maintains thyroid hormone production and disruption of this axis can result in either hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. Serum TSH levels are lower, whereas T3 and T4 levels are higher, in smokers versus non-smokers [9] and in both active smokers and passive smokers [10,11]. This suggests that there is a stimulatory effect of cigarette smoke exposure on thyroid hormone release, with resultant suppression of TSH. This may have important clinical relevance when making the already difficult evaluation and management of smokers with subclinical hyperthyroidism. Multiple studies have shown that there is a lower prevalence of thyroid auto-antibodies in smokers compared with nonsmokers [11,12] and smokers have lower rates of hypothyroidism [13].

source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3389568/

This fits in with Gaby's clinical experience seeing people who quit smoking and suddenly fall into a clinically hypothyroid state. It seems that, for people with sub-optimal thyroid function, smoking gives the body a 'boost' to produce more thyroid hormone, or perhaps increases the effectiveness/availability of thyroid hormone.

It also fits in with my own experience, and I have often wondered why I smoke as many as I do when compared with other people. Now I am suspecting (along with other indicators such as: low internal body temps, perpetually cold hands and feet, reliance on stress hormones, and dry skin/dandruff) that thyroid function is poor, hence there is some reliance on smoking to maintain a level of metastability.

It brings to memory what the C's said about smoking in a session years ago. Something along the lines of "Smoking increases metabolism", coupled with the statement that Laura's thyroid was tampered with, and that it was beneficial for her specifically to smoke.

So I have come across a possible mechanism by which smoking improves thyroid function. Nicotine inhibits aromatase enzymes (estrogen synthases), thereby lowering estrogen.

Nicotine, its major metabolite cotinine, and other tobacco alkaloids were indeed found to inhibit aromatase activity in human trophoblasts, granulosa cells, and breast cancer cells, presumably through direct competitive binding to the active site of the enzyme (7,8). This mechanism has not, to date, been demonstrated in neuronal tissues either in vitro or in vivo, although aromatase is expressed in the brain, and changes in brain aromatase activity have profound effects on behavior, cognition, and response to brain injury (10).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC370526/pdf/jcinvest00711-0007.pdf

Estrogen is one of the main culprits, along with PUFA (+ PUFAs promotion of estrogen formation via aromatase activatiob), for inhibiting thyroid.

Estrogen dominance mimics hypothyroidism by interfering with thyroid hormones

- The symptoms of hypothyroidism may occur because of ED - Also, many other “presumed“ thyroid dysfunctions (E.g. falling hair, water retention, loss of memory, dry skin) and autoimmune disorders are actually caused by ED

- Estrogen increases Thyroid Binding Globulin (TBG) in blood hindering TH activity - Thyroid hormones are carried by Thyroid Binding Globulin, a specific protein produced by the liver. An increased number of binding proteins hold onto more of the thyroid hormone. Since protein-bound (“tied-up”) hormones can't bind to their receptor, this reduces the free thyroid hormones in the blood that will be available to cells for maintaining metabolism, even though blood TH levels may test normal or high.

http://healyourselfathome.com/HEALTH_PROBLEMS/THYROID_DISORDERS/hypothyroidism_may_be_ED.aspx

Therefore, smoking probably lowers estrogen, which can free up T4 and active T3 for assimilation into cells.

 

[goyacobol]

Smoking appears to increase thyroid function:

Cigarettes and the HPT axis

The HPT axis maintains thyroid hormone production and disruption of this axis can result in either hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. Serum TSH levels are lower, whereas T3 and T4 levels are higher, in smokers versus non-smokers [9] and in both active smokers and passive smokers [10,11]. This suggests that there is a stimulatory effect of cigarette smoke exposure on thyroid hormone release, with resultant suppression of TSH. This may have important clinical relevance when making the already difficult evaluation and management of smokers with subclinical hyperthyroidism. Multiple studies have shown that there is a lower prevalence of thyroid auto-antibodies in smokers compared with nonsmokers [11,12] and smokers have lower rates of hypothyroidism [13].

source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3389568/

This fits in with Gaby's clinical experience seeing people who quit smoking and suddenly fall into a clinically hypothyroid state. It seems that, for people with sub-optimal thyroid function, smoking gives the body a 'boost' to produce more thyroid hormone, or perhaps increases the effectiveness/availability of thyroid hormone.

It also fits in with my own experience, and I have often wondered why I smoke as many as I do when compared with other people. Now I am suspecting (along with other indicators such as: low internal body temps, perpetually cold hands and feet, reliance on stress hormones, and dry skin/dandruff) that thyroid function is poor, hence there is some reliance on smoking to maintain a level of metastability.

It brings to memory what the C's said about smoking in a session years ago. Something along the lines of "Smoking increases metabolism", coupled with the statement that Laura's thyroid was tampered with, and that it was beneficial for her specifically to smoke.

So I have come across a possible mechanism by which smoking improves thyroid function. Nicotine inhibits aromatase enzymes (estrogen synthases), thereby lowering estrogen.

Nicotine, its major metabolite cotinine, and other tobacco alkaloids were indeed found to inhibit aromatase activity in human trophoblasts, granulosa cells, and breast cancer cells, presumably through direct competitive binding to the active site of the enzyme (7,8). This mechanism has not, to date, been demonstrated in neuronal tissues either in vitro or in vivo, although aromatase is expressed in the brain, and changes in brain aromatase activity have profound effects on behavior, cognition, and response to brain injury (10).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC370526/pdf/jcinvest00711-0007.pdf

Estrogen is one of the main culprits, along with PUFA (+ PUFAs promotion of estrogen formation via aromatase activatiob), for inhibiting thyroid.

Estrogen dominance mimics hypothyroidism by interfering with thyroid hormones

- The symptoms of hypothyroidism may occur because of ED - Also, many other “presumed“ thyroid dysfunctions (E.g. falling hair, water retention, loss of memory, dry skin) and autoimmune disorders are actually caused by ED

- Estrogen increases Thyroid Binding Globulin (TBG) in blood hindering TH activity - Thyroid hormones are carried by Thyroid Binding Globulin, a specific protein produced by the liver. An increased number of binding proteins hold onto more of the thyroid hormone. Since protein-bound (“tied-up”) hormones can't bind to their receptor, this reduces the free thyroid hormones in the blood that will be available to cells for maintaining metabolism, even though blood TH levels may test normal or high.

http://healyourselfathome.com/HEALTH_PROBLEMS/THYROID_DISORDERS/hypothyroidism_may_be_ED.aspx

Therefore, smoking probably lowers estrogen, which can free up T4 and active T3 for assimilation into cells.

Wow, Keyhole, you are really helping me connect the dots on both tobacco and PUFAs. And also Voyager and SlavaOn noticed some interesting history and the campaign to stop smoking which ties in with the early German campaign 1933-45. Now even Islam is trying to stop smoking. I can't help but think there might be several benefits to smoking that are being suppressed. After all anything that would improve our functioning and awareness makes it more difficult to control us. Estrogen is being added with soybean oil to almost every food product these days not to mention all the other toxins in our environment.

And as you say it fits with Gaby's observations about Iodine absorption and what happens to some people who quit smoking too.

Thanks