Recovering Alcoholics Shouldn’t Smoke

Cigarettes and alcohol tend to go together – even though smoking has decreased a lot in our present day society. An interesting study has shown that when alcoholics are in recovery, they do worse if they continue to smoke than if they give up smoking as well as alcohol. This was shown by a variety of means, in 25 recovering alcoholics, 14 of whom were smokers.

MRI exams allowed estimation of brain levels of two markers for brain cell health – N-ascetylaspartate and choline. Concentrations of these increased in non-smokers during the first 28 days of recovery, but remained the same or decreased in the smokers. After one month of abstinence, there were large differences in performance in tests of mental function between the two groups, in favor of the non-smokers.

The author of the paper published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research ( Dr Timothy Durazzo ) believes the effect may be due to one or more of the toxic compounds that cigarette smoke contains, such as carbon monoxide or free radicals. Trying to get alcoholics to give up smoking as well as alcohol at the same time is asking a lot, but maybe these findings will help provide the necessary motivation.