Diabetics Urged to Stop Smoking
The Canadian Diabetes Association is urging people living with diabetes who smoke to quit the habit as people commemorate the World No Tobacco Day.
The Association warned that smoking while having diabetes is a deadly combination.
World Health Organization’s (WHO) has marked every 31st of may of each year as the World No Tobacco Day, in their effort to make people aware of the health risks of cigarette smoking and convince them to quit the habit.
Meanwhile, the CDA is urging Canadians living with diabetes who smoke to take charge of their health by knowing their risks and to take action by kicking the habit.
The Association said that, each year, an estimated 45,000 Canadians die of smoking-related illnesses. Canadians living with diabetes who smoke are three times more likely to have a heart attack than people with diabetes who don’t smoke.
In a similar way that high blood glucose levels affect the body, the chemicals in cigarette smoke attack blood vessels, accelerating the hardening of the arteries, impairing the blood’s ability to carry oxygen to the tissues, CDA added.
Michèle Blackstock, a diabetic who recently stopped smoking after smoking for 16 years said that, “I knew smoking was so horrifically bad to begin with and I knew that having diabetes increased the adverse risks, but I didn’t know to what extent.”
“It was only after learning more about how diabetes affects my body that I came to a full understanding and began trying to quit seriously,” she said.
An online public opinion poll conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion on behalf of the Canadian Diabetes Association recently uncovered that 60% of respondents living with diabetes who smoke are not aware smoking has an impact on their diabetes and 57% say their diagnosis with diabetes does not impact their smoking behaviour. in addition, 59% of respondents do not think their diabetes makes them any more susceptible to adverse symptoms than other smokers who do not have diabetes.
“The combination of high blood glucose and smoking dramatically increases damage to the blood vessels that feed the heart, brain, eyes, kidneys and peripheral nerves,” informs Dr. Vincent Woo, Chair, Clinical and Scientific Section, Canadian Diabetes Association.
“Quitting smoking is one of the most important things people living with diabetes can do to help prevent or delay the onset of complications.”
“I’ve succeeded. I’ve found a way to break all my smoking routines and I’m making new ones that I like and that I’m able to maintain,” says Blackstock.
“It’s been a hard process, but I feel great knowing that I’ve done something to decrease my chance of diabetes-related complications.”
The WHO’s World No Tobacco Day 2010 will place an emphasis on the harmful effects of tobacco marketing toward women and girls as the epidemic of tobacco use among them is increasing in many countries.
The Canadian Diabetes Association is leading the fight against diabetes by helping people with diabetes live healthy lives while working to find a cure.
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