A drink in one hand, a cigarette in the other. Which is more lethal?
Experts say the cigarette. Even alcoholic smokers are more
likely to die from problems caused by smoking than by
drinking, they say.
Though research is just beginning into links between smoking
and alcoholism, a new study says smokers with a history of
alcoholism may benefit from nicotine gum, patches and other
substitutes for smoking.
"The next step I would find interesting would be to look at
the idea of how to tackle both addictions -- sequentially or
at the same time? And if you do it sequentially, which one
makes the most sense to do first?" asks Gail L. Rose,
research associate at the University of Vermont. She was
project manager for the study led by Professor of Psychiatry
John R. Hughes.
The study, reported in this month's issue of Alcoholism:
Clinical and Experimental Research, looked at 20 smokers with
a history of alcoholism and 10 smokers who were not
alcoholics. All volunteered to abstain from cigarettes for
four days. . .
The researchers found the subjects who had no history of
alcoholism showed no preference for one gum, but the 20
recovering alcoholics chewed more milligrams of nicotine each
day, Rose says.
HealthScout (Nov 30, 2000)
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/hsn/20001201/hl/cigarettes_more_lethal_than_alcohol
_1.htm
by Anne Haddad
HealthScout Reporter
