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[Article] Tobacco - a forgotten healing plant

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http://www.dotteddragonfly.com/tobacco-a-forgotten-healing-plant/

 

Studies on tobacco typically work with commercial tobacco products, not natural cured tobacco leaf. This interesting article suggests that beyond all the demonization we might be missing out on a useful medicinal - a scenario similar to that of cannabis and many other illegal natural drugs. Some excerpts from the article:

 

"At the notion of tobacco, the majority of people will associate it with disease. The WHO states that “tobacco use is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced”. This statement is false because the tobacco itself doesn’t present such a health threat; it is the modern tobacco products and the production process that pose a threat. [...]

In the US, the industry uses over 600 intentional chemical additives to blended cigarettes. Furthermore, there is a myriad of additives present in tobacco final products which are not intentionally added, but are simply a by-product of growing and production process."

 

"Nicotine is an alkaloid that in lesser doses produces a relaxing and stimulating effect, and increases the level of dopamine and serotonin, which probably accounts for its addictive properties. In higher doses it can be harmful. Even though labeled addictive, its benefits seem to outweigh the risks. In fact, it seems to have no more health risks than caffeine.

The confusion about nicotine comes from anti-smoking activists who equate nicotine and smoking. Nicotine is an anti-inflammatory agent and has been shown, among other things to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s, as well as delay the onset of Parkinson’s disease.

 

Analysis of natural tobacco leaf has been shown to contain more than 3,000 endogenous plant organic and inorganic chemical compounds. Interestingly, among them are certain harmala alkaloids, which perform as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI-s). These prevent the breakdown of monoamine neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin and thereby increase their availability. This can also account for tobacco’s “feel good” effect."

 

I particularly liked this line:

"As with any plant, it can be a cure, but it can also be a poison."

 

I've been thinking recently that there are no bad medicines, only bad doctors. People have been buying shitty medicine from tobacco companies and self-prescribing it recklessly, and it gives the medicine a bad name. Then again, so have I, so I guess I can't complain about it...

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Great Article! Good to see someone else who acknowledges the inherent flaws in studies that only use commercial or conventional products rather than also testing those in their unadultered form. It's a shame we are not allowed to access un-poisoned tobacco or grow our own that is healthier than the commercial crap. I've always wondered what the gov's agenda was with those aggressive anti smoking campaigns. I never believed for a second it was simply for people's health, they always have an agenda.

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I just assumed it was due to tobacco company lobbying (aka bribing).

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No need to get paranoid, those aggressive anti smoking campaigns have been put in place because the science shows a clear link between smoking tobacco, reduced life expectancy and other negative health outcomes. The reasons most studies focus on commercial tobacco, is because thats what people are buying and smoking. Its very difficult work attracting funding for a medical trial, and if your study isnt relevant to a current medical issue, eg smoking organic tobacco, then you wont get funding. 

 

That article makes some absurd claims, and fails to back any of them up 

 

Copied from article 
It appears to reduce the risk of ulcerative colitis, sarcoidosis, endometrial cancer, uterine fibroids and breast cancer among women carrying the very high risk BRCA gene. Using organic tobacco with no additives may be a way to utilize these benefits, without many of the risks posed by conventional tobacco.
If you are a tobacco lover, the best way to obtain it is to plant your own in a garden or in pots. Since there’s no recipe on how to use it and in which quantities, a good way would be to use your intuition.

Why isnt there a link provided to the study that shows smoking reduced the risk of any of these claims ?  was it made up ? of course it was its a blog 

Why does the article inform the reader there are 3000+ endogenous chemicals in tobacco? if any of these chemicals had medicinal value, why lump them into a group of 3000 rather then stating which compounds have value, what that value is, and how that value has been demonstrated.  

 

This world needs less bloggers claiming to be medical experts

Edited by Change
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Fair enough about the unreferenced health claims, I'm sure there are some health benefits but whether that outweighs the risk vs. reward who knows. As for the gov. I'm sure every action they take is for the best of the people, that's why they also have similar fear mongering campaigns for processed foods :) I know I get why they use commercial tobacco as that's all the nannies allow you to smoke, but why not add a pure specimen as a 2nd control, otherwise the results will be omitting some very important variables in regards to how harmful smoking tobacco really is. When they conclude that tobacco increases the risk of x disease by x amount, is it really the tobacco? Or is it due to one or more of the hundreds of added chemicals? Or both? Scientists are meant to be meticulous with every detail, every variable, otherwise how can anyone take their results and conclusions seriously. Sorry about the rant lazy science just pisses me of :)

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Since there’s no recipe on how to use it and in which quantities, a good way would be to use your intuition.

What could possibly go wrong using such sound advice?

Umm, didn't someone die recently in an aya setting after being administered tobacco juice?

 

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Would have been a bad way to go. I'd much rather use reason than intuition. 

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It looks to me like the author of the blog found this website, but didnt bother to read it,  http://www.tobaccoinaustralia.org.au/3-28-health-benefits-of-smoking-

Im still confused as to where smoking tobacco helps women with breast cancer carrying the high risk BRCA gene comes from, i thought all women have the BRCA gene and it was the women who have mutations in this gene that were at high risk of developing cancers, not the carriers of this gene ?

 

 

3.28.1 Ulcerative colitis 

Nicotine in tobacco smoke is thought to be the component that is most likely to affect the course of the disease.7 However, smokers have a greater risk of developing Crohn’s disease, another inflammatory disease of the bowel (see Section 3.12.2). Due to the devastating effects of tobacco use, smoking is not recommended as treatment for ulcerative colitis

 

3.28.2 Parkinson's disease

 however, the 2014 US Surgeon General’s report found that controlled trials of the effects of nicotine on cognitive function in patients with Parkin¬son’s disease are limited, with inconsistent findings. 6

 

3.28.3 Endometrial cancer and uterine fibroids

However the numbers of lives saved that can be statistically attributed to the prevention of endometrial cancer among smokers pales into insignificance compared with the numbers of deaths due to other diseases caused by tobacco use, particularly in the light of the evidence that has established that smoking causes cancer of the uterine cervix.20

 

3.28.4 Pre-eclampsia (hypertension in pregnancy)

The US Surgeon General has concluded that 'the decreased risk of pre-eclampsia among smokers compared with non-smokers does not outweigh the adverse outcomes that can result from prenatal smoking' (p576).20 

 

3.28.5 Cognitive performance?

Note however that smoking in the longer term has been associated with cognitive decline–see Section 3.23.

 

3.28.6 Psychiatric symptoms?

However, in a 2012 Cochrane Review update, the authors reviewed all randomised controlled trials examining nicotine as a treatment for people with schizophrenia, and found no studies that met their inclusion criteria. Hence, there is a need for high quality research that investigates the effects of nicotine for schizophrenia.32

 

3.28.7 Thyroid cancer?

and more research is required before a definitive statement can be made.

 

3.28.8 Skin cancer?

More recent analyses from two large prospective cohort studies provides limited evidence to suggest that smoking may reduce melanoma risk; analyses by smoking status provided inconsistent data and no clear dose–response pattern was found. This weakens the argument for a cause–effect relationship between smoking and a protective effect for melanoma.43

 

3.28.9 Other possible health 'benefits'

One recent study found that the possible protective effect of smoking was only present when there was heavy cigarette smoking or smoking for long periods of time (>5 years) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Change

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I was thinking the same thing when I saw that site. I wonder how many smoker deaths are not from smoking, sure would be easy to fudge the results I think. 

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Has a long history of tradional use, typically as a preparation as a tea. It is a potent anti-parasitic used to purge tapeworms and asaris from the body. It is also used to induce vomiting as a purgative to cleanse the body prior to use of tradional psyc medicines 

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