Quit smoking reduces harmful metabolites

Who sets up smoking, can reduce the harmful altered by nicotine metabolites significantly. This also reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and other health consequences. This is the conclusion reached by scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum München after evaluating a population-based cohort study. Their results are published in the scientific journal, BMC Medicine '.

Nicotine promotes the formation of metabolites altered so altered metabolites which are harmful in elevated concentrations. If omitted nicotine, the concentrations of these metabolites are significantly declining. These results are consistent with the prior knowledge that the risk for cardiovascular disease, such. As heart attack decreases when smoking is given up. Scientists at the Department of Molecular Epidemiology (AME), the Institute of Experimental Genetics (IEG) and the Institute of Epidemiology II (EPI II) at Helmholtz Zentrum München evaluated over 1.200 blood samples of the population-based research platform KORA (Cooperative Health Research in the Augsburg Region) that you mapped smokers, non-smokers and ex-smokers. In addition, control values ​​and smoking status were raised again after seven years.

Overall, the teams around Dr. Rui Wang-Sattler, Tao Xu, Zhonghao Yu, Prof. Dr. Jerzy Adamski and Prof. Dr. Annette Peters identified 21 metabolites, mainly from the metabolic pathways of amino acids and fats, whose concentrations were altered by smoking. Levels of 19 of these metabolites were found to be reversible when smokers had quit smoking in the meantime. For changed metabolite concentrations from the urea cycle and modified fats, such as phosphatidylcholine, the connection with the risk of cardiovascular diseases has already been demonstrated. With this, the scientists show that giving up nicotine makes sense at all times and means a reduction in the health risk.

The affected metabolic pathways are also suitable as possible parameters to elucidate further health consequences of nicotine consumption. "Our study represents a meaningful model of so-called systems biology, with which we want to investigate the molecular parameters of lifestyle- and environment-dependent diseases," says Wang-Sattler, head of the Metabolism working group at AME.

Environmental factors and lifestyle contribute significantly to the emergence of widespread diseases in Germany, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus in. The aim of the Helmholtz Zentrum München is to develop new approaches for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of common diseases.

Original publication:

Xu, T. et al. (2013) Effects of smoking and smoking cessation on human serum metabolite profile: results from the KORA cohort study, BMC Medicine, doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-11-60

Link to trade publication:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/11/60/abstract 

Source: Neuherberg [Helmholtz Zentrum München]