Ook wel eens gehoord van de anti-rokers dat een mens niet rookt om de zenuwen te verdrijven maar omdat je zo naar een sigaret verlangt? Wij hebben het Stivoro in ieder geval vaak horen zeggen in het verleden, alhoewel zij ook moeten hebben opgemerkt dat er zoveel meer gerookt werd in New York direct na de ramp op 9/11.
Deze week kregen we wetenschappelijke ondersteuning in onze opvatting dat de anti-rokers daarmee weer eens uit hun nek kletsen. Onderzoekers van het Duke University Medical Center ontdekten namelijk dat de symptomen van depressies bij niet-rokers verlicht werden na het toedienen van nicotine. Hoewel de Duke University bekend staat om zijn vele anti-rokenonderzoek waren de wetenschappers, hoewel met grote omhaal, toch eerlijk genoeg om op te merken:
“Our study also provides evidence that smokers may indeed smoke, in part, to improve their mood — a notion that has been quite controversial in the field”.
The finding does not mean that people with depression should smoke or even start using a nicotine patch, the researchers caution. They say that smoking remains the No. 1 preventable cause of death and disability in the United States, and that the addictive hazards of tobacco far outweigh the potential benefits of nicotine in depression.
But the finding suggests that it may be possible to manipulate nicotine’s effects to safely reap its potential medical benefits, according to the researchers. As an example of the drug’s potential, they said, pharmaceutical companies already are developing compounds for treating other brain disorders by mimicking the beneficial properties of nicotine while avoiding its addictive nature.
“The hope is that our research on nicotine will spur the development of new treatments for depression, which is a huge public health problem,” said lead study investigator Joseph McClernon, Ph.D., an assistant research professor of medical psychiatry and researcher at the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research.
“Our study also provides evidence that smokers may indeed smoke, in part, to improve their mood — a notion that has been quite controversial in the field,” he said.
The team’s findings are scheduled to appear the week of Sept. 11, 2006, in the online edition of the journal Psychopharmacology and will be published in print in November.
The research was supported by the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.
Scientists have established that people prone to depression are twice as likely to be smokers, and are less likely to succeed in quitting smoking after taking up the habit, according to McClernon. The Duke study explored the theories behind the higher smoking rates among people experiencing depression.
“Smokers may be more prone to depression than nonsmokers,” said Edward Levin, Ph.D., a professor of biological psychiatry and researcher at the Duke center, who was senior investigator in the current study. “Or, people with depression may be self-medicating by smoking, albeit in a deadly way.”
