(Image source from: set-alight)
Think nicotine is bad for health? Rubbishing the long-held belief that the extremely addictive nicotine is bad for health, a scientist, employed by one of the biggest cigarette manufacturers today claimed that it is not as bad as one deems.
Shunning the common perception, the scientific director for British American Tobacco David O'Reilly said that nicotine boosts brain health. 'It helps with cognition, stimulation and relaxes,' he said.
The controversial claim comes week after the New York University researchers warned smokers of e-cigarettes that emitted for nicotine than normal cigarettes.
However, the senior molecular biologist claim has been fired by other senior researchers who have accused him of trying to help 'sell as many cigarettes as possible'.
Professor John Britton, chairman of the Royal College of Physicians tobacco advisory group and professor of epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, said that nicotine can be an effective brain booster, but it is highly addictive and can many smokers dependent on it to kick start their brain every time.
'It is true that in a single use, nicotine probably does improve concentration and hand-eye co-ordination, on a par with what you get from caffeine. But it is also a powerfully addictive drug, and there comes a time when you need nicotine just for your brain to function normally,' he said.
Good, bad or outrightly harmful, there is no denying that smoking is one of the major causes of preventable deaths across the globe than any other addiction, illness or disease.
AW: Suchorita Dutta Choudhury
